Feeling confused and left in the dark by all this talk of IMS? Fear not, Light Reading has the answers.

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) developments, and the whole fixed-mobile convergence concept of managing and delivering services across a single core network, have gained major momentum in past months, with standards bodies making progress and vendors and operators announcing IMS-based strategies (see IMS Tops 3GSM Agenda, IP Multimedia Subsystems: Easy Does It, and Vendors Prep for IMS Fight).

IMS is set to enable next-generation applications like multimedia conferencing, multiplayer gaming, and transferring a voice-over-WLAN call to a cellular network. It will have a major impact on the telecom industry because it will lead to new business models and opportunities and (it is to be hoped) lower costs through standards-based procurement.

In short, it’s important. Very important. But it’s also very complex.

Which is why Light Reading has put together an IMS Guide, to help you understand this technological minefield.

Author Tim Hills lays out the basics in a report that makes IMS easy to follow:

Enjoy!

— The Staff, Light Reading

To learn more about IMS, check out the coming Light Reading Live! conference:

IMS: Blueprint for Fixed-Mobile Convergence
at The Sheraton Hotel (Buckhead) in Atlanta, on Wednesday, March 30, 2005