Acme Packet cited its involvement in nearly 100 IMS projects around the world. In part, the company noted:
- European deployments lead the way: European service providers account for 50% of Acme Packet’s IMS projects, followed by 22% in Asia-Pacific, 15% in Central & South America and 13% in North America.
- Interoperability with all major IMS vendors proven: Acme Packet SBCs are deployed with IMS core infrastructure (e.g., S/I-CSCF, HSS, application servers, etc.) provided by eight different major communications equipment vendors.
- Wireline service delivery commands attention: Nearly two-thirds of Acme Packet’s IMS projects (65%) deliver services only to wireline access networks. Both wireline and wireless networks are supported by 26% of the projects and wireless-only networks by 9%. These findings support our observation that wireline access networks are moving more rapidly to IP for voice service delivery than wireless access networks. All IP 4G networks such as mobile WiMAX and LTE present future new opportunities for IMS.
- Access border is the SBC focus: Given the initial focus by service providers on delivering services to their own subscribers, SBCs are initially being used to protect and control the access border in 80% of Acme Packet’s IMS projects. In another 13% of the projects, SBCs are being used at both the access and interconnect borders, and in the remaining 7% of projects at the interconnect border only. Interconnecting these networks to one another and non-IMS VoIP networks is an additional future opportunity.
- Integrated SBC architecture prevails: Acme Packet’s integrated SBCs, which control both SIP signaling and media, have been selected, on average, for nine out of ten projects. The other projects are using an Acme Packet’s decomposed SBC solution — a border gateway controlling just media under the direction of another vendor’s SIP signaling element. In contrast with the decomposed SBC architecture, the integrated SBC provides superior border control functionality and performance, and is field-proven in hundreds of Acme Packet customer networks and in networks with hundreds of border points. The integrated SBC solution simplifies the network by eliminating the need for the H.248 control protocol between elements and greatly eases troubleshooting and support by consolidating border control in one system from a single vendor.
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