Breaking down the general concept of Ubiquity, one of the first targets is to allow users to be always on-line and services to be always available. Stated like this, it becomes clear that the ubiquitous world will be very different to the one in which we live today. The services models will be different and the relationships that operators have with their customers will also change. Current telecommunication networks, optimised for the delivery of voice data, will certainly be inadequate for supporting the growth and changes in the data services market. To make the visions a reality, and fully exploit the opportunities that exist, new technologies are required.

NEC believes that service provision should not shaped by the limitations of the network but by the ideal of providing the customer with the services that they truly desire. A user does not want services do be available most of the time and in most of the places, the mobile is about being able to access information and people at all times. The immediacy of the service is as important as the access. Technologies such as IPv6, SIP, and All-IP, or the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) are increasingly prominent within the mobile industry because it is these technologies that will be used to turn our vision of 'Ubiquity' a reality.

3GPP has chosen the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) from the IETF to be the protocol for implementing IMS. 3GPP’s IMS will introduce technology and concepts that will change mobile services in a profound and positive way. For users, it will offer an entirely new, but intuitively right experience; for operators it will provide solutions for fundamental problems such as reducing churn and creating new revenue streams.

IMS enriches communication by giving new communication medium and methods to the user. IMS mobile services are complimentary, combining and interlocking to promote the use of each other. Furthermore, these services are based around the group; users can hold ad-hoc sales meetings on the fly or team-up with friends to play games. By creating a network that allows users to communicate as they do in everyday life, IMS builds a platform for creating multimedia services tailored to users rather than services that are tailored by the network.

The IMS Lifestyle

The delivery of multimedia services to mobile phones will require an entirely different approach to that of a phone system created to offer voice connections between two parties. In this need lies an opportunity to create an entirely new mobile experience. The mobile phone of old will evolve to become an extension of the user and a tool for expression. With the achievement of these goals, NEC's IMS will take us forward and one step closer to our ideal of the ubiquitous society.

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