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San Jose, Calif.-based BEA Systems (News - Alert) is continuing to play a key role in helping service providers all over the world quickly and efficiently roll out next generation services for their customers. The company recently announced that it has completed interoperability testing between its WebLogic SIP Server - the industry’s first converged Java EE-SIP-IMS application server - and the IMS service platforms of NEC (News - Alert) Corp., Huawei Technologies and Convergin. The successful completion of this interoperability testing means these network equipment providers (NEPs) can now combine their solutions with those of BEA to deliver fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and telco SOA for carriers’ pre-IMS and IMS networks.

“Operators will benefit from the industry’s leading IMS application server platform, which provides a converged, single container architecture at their IMS Services Layer (versus multiple containers to achieve the same capabilities), which gives operators a lower TCO structure,” said Ken Lee, director of product marketing for BEA’s WebLogic Communications Platform product family, during a recent interview with TMCnet. “BEA WebLogic SIP Server gives operators an edge with the most highly available platform, and a converged container with access to Java, Internet, SOA, IMS capabilities, which means more innovative, revenue-generating services.”

BEA’s partnerships with NEC and Huawei (News - Alert), in particular, will strengthen its presence in Asia. Lee pointed out that the company’s penetration in the telecom OSS/BSS and IT side in the APAC region is already quite high.

“BEA Tuxedo, BEA WebLogic Server, BEA WebLogic Integration and BEA WebLogic Portal products are dominant in terms of market share in the telecom OSS/BSS and IT industries,” he said. “All the major operators in APAC use BEA technology to run their OSS/BSS and IT operations.”

“On the telecom service/network delivery side, BEA WebLogic Communications Platform products (BEA WebLogic SIP Server, BEA WebLogic Network Gatekeeper) have made significant progress with operators all over APAC,” Lee said. “And many of these opportunities have been realized in collaboration with the region’s major NEP partners.”

“Partnerships with NEPs are critical to BEA’s success in the telecom network/service delivery markets, since the underlying core network systems are provided by the NEPs,” Lee added. “The tighter partnerships with NEC and Huawei will only enhance BEA’s existing strength in the APAC telecom industry, providing BEA added credibility with the region’s major operators.”

BEA Systems will work with these leading NEPs in their respective market areas to help accelerate the adoption of IMS-based next-generation telecom networks. For example, network operators which have deployed, or are considering deploying, NEC solutions for IMS networks, can now consider purchasing BEA WebLogic SIP Server, which is now “pre-tested” to run on NEC-based IMS networks. The combined solution will help bring new revenue opportunities for service providers – and will also enable them to roll out next generation services (including FMC – i.e. seamless handoff between fixed and mobile networks) with much greater speed and ease. In addition to reducing time-to-market and cost-of-integration, the combined solution will also enable operators to offer unique, high quality multimedia services that will help them differentiate themselves in their highly competitive markets. Perhaps best of all, the solutions will enable operators to deliver new services over both legacy and advanced next generation networks.

“Network operators have spoken: they want a flexible IMS architecture that can enable them to deliver next-generation services quickly and efficiently,” said Mike McHugh, vice president and general manager, BEA WebLogic Communications Platform, in a press release. “This joint BEA-NEC IMS offering is designed to help enable operators to establish tangible revenue generating opportunities from new and innovative IMS services with a shorter deployment time.”

Through its ongoing partnership with BEA Systems, NEC can provide “not only an IMS platform, but also the network service enablers, as key parts of a SIP application server, so that rich IMS services can be created using various network capabilities.” NEC’s IMS product line is built on telecom industry standards-based architecture and protocols (3GPP and 3GPP2). Naturally, BEA WebLogic SIP Server supports these protocols as well. The converged Java EE-IMS application server is designed to provide an integrated and cost-effective foundation for an IMS services layer architecture, with a single converged application container supporting all the key IT and telecom protocols and interfaces, such as SIP, HTTP, Java EE, XCAP, Diameter, ISC and Web Services.

Huawei’s IMS solution is also based on the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards, as well as the TISPAN standard.

“Huawei has become a mainstream supplier of IMS, providing operators with a convergent, open and innovative service management platform,” said Zha Jun, vice president of Huawei’s core network product line and director of IMS solutions, in a press release. “BEA Systems is a world leader in enterprise and communications infrastructure software. By integrating with BEA WebLogic SIP Server, the Huawei IMS solution can help enable operators to deploy various integrated multimedia services efficiently. Huawei will continue to develop close partnerships with leading vendors and continue to build our competitive IMS ecosystem.”

Since introducing its first IMS-capable line of products 2004, Huawei has built an expansive IMS industry ecosystem. The company is now going to market with several new value-added services, including PES/PSS, IP Centrex, multi-media conference, MRBT/MCLI, VCC, gaming, POC and media sharing. Obviously, Huawei’s partnership with BEA will be a key enabler for the effective delivery of these services.

“Huawei has fast become a leading network equipment provider and system integrator in the Chinese and global telecom markets,” said Mike McHugh, vice president and general manager, BEA WebLogic Communications Platform, BEA Systems, in a press release. “The joint BEA-Huawei IMS offering presents our mutual customers with an unparalleled opportunity to leverage IMS technology to grow and strengthen their business.”

BEA has also announced that its WebLogic Communications Platform Products now interoperate with Convergin’s Accolade Wireless Convergence (News - Alert) Server (WCS), an advanced service platform for IMS and pre-IMS 2G/3G/fixed networks. With this combined solution, service providers will be able to deliver seamless services across both IP and legacy networks. It also gives service providers an easier path for migrating their legacy service platforms to a flexible, next generation, IMS-based, SOA platform, while delivering the equivalent network functionality, efficiency and control for GSM/CDMA/and wireline networks.

“Not only can the joint solution from BEA and Convergin provide a viable future-proof replacement of the service layer, but it can also open the door for operators to deploy advanced and complex multimedia services, integrated to their overall service delivery suite,” a press release states.

“The time has come to bring Service Oriented Architecture to Telecom service delivery, and to realize the vision of flexible services that leverage existing assets in legacy networks and new assets in IMS networks,” said Benjamin Renaud, senior director, BEA WebLogic Communications Platform, BEA Systems. “The combination of BEA WebLogic SIP Server with Convergin’s Accolade WCS is designed to allow both companies to help network operators to make the IMS Services Layer based on Telecom SOA principles, a reality.”

The deal is an important one for Convergin, which is tiny compared to NEC and Huawei. By establishing a relationship with BEA Systems, Convergin will be able to gain the trust of other, larger vendors and thus can land much larger deals and gain greater presence. The Israel-based company is focused on the development of Service Capability Interaction Manager (SCIM) capabilities – a functionality which is becoming increasingly important to service providers as they gear up to launch FMC and advanced IMS-based services.

“We are truly excited to be working with the market leader in SOA platforms,” said Dr. Ayal Itzkovitz, CEO of Convergin. “The combination of BEA WebLogic SIP Server and our Accolade WCS can help BEA to more aggressively target new markets and can help enable service providers to take a significant step towards realizing their IMS and fixed-mobile convergence goals. It is evident that the market is moving towards accepting more IT standards for the network service layer and we are proud to present a powerful solution that delivers on this promise.”

“The IMS-NGN Services Layer is a new ‘application middleware’ layer,” Lee explained. “This is a new infrastructure layer that operators have not had before, since the separation of the services layer from the core network wasn’t necessary until IMS-NGN-SGP considerations. But the IMS Services Layer blows new life into legacy IN-PSTN-CS networks, by providing innovative new features to existing subscribers who are already using the operator’s legacy networks.”

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.