Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERICY) used the CTIA Wireless 2005 event in New Orleans this week to sneak out details of a surprise IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystems Services) win at Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON).

Although the equipment supplier has not issued an official announcement, Ericsson spokesman Rob Elston confirms it has joined rival Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) as an IMS supplier to Sprint’s CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network (see Lucent Supplies Sprint and Ericsson Demos IMS).

“Sprint has selected us to design, deploy, and integrate their IMS architecture,” Elston tells Unstrung. “We are supplying components of their IMS architecture and we are the integrator for it... We think it's very important to be able to integrate in a multi-vendor architecture.”

Elston was unable to provide financial details. Sprint was unavailable for comment at press time.

In a research note, Prudential Equity Group LLC analyst Inder Singh claims that news of the win “was a bit of a surprise... This is an interesting win as we do not believe Ericsson has any wireless base stations in Sprint’s network.”

IMS is a SIP-based control layer with interfaces to the transport layer below and the services layer above. IMS will enable applications like transferring a VOWLAN call to a cellular network, multimedia conferencing, and multiplayer gaming (see IP Multimedia Subsystems: Easy Does It).

IMS developments have gained major momentum in the past few months, with standards bodies making progress and vendors and operators announcing IMS-based strategies (see IMS Tops 3GSM Agenda and Vendors Prep for IMS Fight).

— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung

Light Reading Live! IMS: Blueprint for Fixed-Mobile Convergence

This year will be critical for the IP Multimedia Subsystem. Although there are many trial networks in operation, there are only a small number of commercial IMS implementations, mostly small. In 2005, that is set to change as cellular operators begin this key transition. Make no mistake: IMS is shaping up to be a major paradigm shift for the industry, and there will be winners and losers among service providers and vendors. IMS: Blueprint for Fixed-Mobile Convergence will help attendees understand both the opportunities and threats this shift presents.

Join us on Wednesday, March 30, at the Sheraton Hotel Buckhead in Atlanta for this Light Reading Live event sponsored by Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), NexTone Communications Inc. and Nortel Networks Ltd. (NYSE/Toronto: NT).

To register, please click on this link

For further education, visit the archives of related Light Reading Webinars: