Position: China Unicom IMS Shines the Gold Coast of Europe
Founded in January 6, 2009, China Unicom Network Communications Group Limited (China Unicom) is the merger of the former China Netcom and the former China Unicom, providing GSM cellular business and value-added services, fixed-line voice and value-added services, fixed-line broadband and other Internet-related services, ICT services, data communications services, and other related telecommunication business in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. On 7 January 2009, China Unicom was granted the license to operate 3G digital cell business with WCDMA technology.
OSS (Operations Support Systems)/ BSS (Business Support Systems) plays an important role in IMS commercial deployment. But, the current research on IMS is mainly focused on network level and service level, concerning less with OSS/BSS.
Under this background, China Unicom proposed the Catalyst project of “Seamless OSS/BSS for IMS Services” in TM Forum (TeleManagement Forum) in 2007. TM Forum is an authorized organization focusing on NGOSS(New Generation Operations Systems and Software).
The project of “Seamless OSS/BSS for IMS Services” is initiated in September 2007. On behalf of China Unicom, ZTE with deep understanding of project layout and technical requirements finished the designing of the scenarios with other parties in the project. Then ZTE’s IMS equipment showed the excellent compatibility in the system interoperability tests, which saved a lot of time for overall schedule.
Totally the project includes two phases. The project phase I proposed the general architecture which showed how OSS/BSS seamlessly support IMS service. And the Phase II project provided more IMS services and more access types of IMS terminals, which was closer to the real commercial operating circumstance. There are two scenarios in Phase II project:
● In scenario I, a total solution of “Seamless OSS/BSS for IMS services” was presented in a multi-vendor systems environment. ZTE provided IMS core equipment (CSCF, HSS, IMS-GWF,CG, etc.) and IMS terminals (fixed/mobile terminals, IMS client), co-working with Microsoft’s service delivery platform, Amdocs’s charging system, and Avaya’s application server. It demonstrated the great interoperability, compatibility and flexibility of ZTE's IMS product portfolios.
● In scenario II, ZTE provided end-to-end IMS system including IMS client/terminals, access network, unified core network, universal service platform and convergent OSS/BSS system. Currently, only very few vendors can provide such one-stop IMS solution. Based on this end-to-end system, IMS services deployment, provisioning, billing, as well as both online and offline charging were completely performed.
The project phase I and phase II were separately demonstrated with the great success at “TM World” and the Management World 2008, held by TM Forum, in November 2007 and May 2008.
ZTE Solution Highlights:
● The industry-first operational IMS-based OSS/BSS
● The first IMS＋NGOSS seamless integration system in the industry
● An end-to-end IMS solution including fixed/mobile terminals, core network, service platform and OSS/BSS
● Excellent interoperability and compatibility with open interfaces
3 China Unicom Customer Benefits
● Provides the total solution of OSS/BSS for IMS services
● Provides a real and complete model of "IMS services lifecycle management"
● Realizes convergent online & offline IMS charging
● Standardizes the interfaces between IMS core and OSS/BSS
“China Unicom proposed the research project of 'Seamless OSS/BSS for IMS Services' in 2007, and got support from some famous vendors in both OSS/BSS industry and IMS industry. ZTE provided IMS core equipment and played the important role in the project. Without ZTE, we can’t make it!”
——Zhang Zhijiang, General Manager of Technology Department, China Unicom
“This catalyst is a perfect example of a second catalyst project being built on the solid foundation of a successful first phase. This excellent team continues to explore the subject matter and to further develop the ideas successfully demonstrated at Management World Americas in Dallas 2007.”
——Martin Creaner, Chief Technology Officer, TeleManagement Forum
