Next-Generation IMS / Core Network

The Next-Generation
FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence) Core Network
KAWAMURA Atsuo, TAMURA Toshiyuki, TSUKAGOSHI Tsutomu, HASUMI Toshiaki, WATANABE Kazuo

Abstract
The IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is an IP-based communication system defined by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership
Project), which is the organization that approves standards for the W-CDMA technology. It features the capability of access connec-
tions from fixed networks as well as continuing its original purpose of enabling cellular phone access connections. This means that
the IMS offers an architecture that is capable of implementing the FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence). NEC is implementing FMC
using the IMS as well as researching the AIPN (All-IP Network) at the same time with the aim of further improving its performance.

Keywords
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence), AIPN (All-IP Network)

1. Introduction
on the W-CDMA technology) has been studying the introduc-
tion of the IMS to replace the existing, circuit switching based
The current communication networks may be divided rough- core networks by new IP technology based core networks since
ly into: analog telephone networks, ISDN (Integrated Services around 2000. The purpose of the introduction is to provide
Digital Networks), the IP telephone networks provided by ISP subscribers with attractive multimedia services at low cost and
businesses via the Internet, and the 2G and 3G mobile net- for short periods based on utilizing various applications and
works for cellular phones. contents services that are developed for the Internet. It is also
Each of these networks is composed of independent com- expected that the introduction will bring great advantages to
munications equipment. As a result, even the control of call the cellular phone carriers because the IP-based call session
sessions of services that are available both for fixed and mobile control system can be created at a lower price compared to the
communications, such as call transfer and machine answering, traditional circuit switching exchanges and transmission paths,
is performed using different equipment for each network. The which are very expensive.
subscriber information and billing information are also allo- One of the significant features of the IMS architecture is that
cated separately to each network. When a communication car- the IMS and access networks can be configured independently.
rier wants to expand a business area from fixed to mobile, it This allows the IMS access not only from the PS Domain
should furnish the additional communications equipment to (packet communication) but also from the various access net-
the mobile network. With regard to the subscribers, they have works including 3GPP2 (3rd Generation Partnership Project 2,
to subscribe to the carrier of each terminal and pay the com- the organization standardizing the 3G cellular phone system
munications fees to the actual carrier of each terminal. Since a based on the cdma-2000 technology), wireless LANs and fixed
subscriber utilizes a variety of communications including fixed networks (ADSL, optical, etc.). Thereby increasing the system
phone, IP phone and cellular phone, the need for the conver- value of the IMS considerably, Fig. 1 shows the outline of the
gence of services is a very important one, and IP transport IMS architecture.
implementation is intended to satisfy these needs. The CSCF is the core function of the IMS. When an IMS call
is originated by UE, the CSCF analyzes the SIP (Session Ini-
tiation Protocol, which is the communication control protocol
2. IMS
used by the Internet phone standardized by the IETF) signal
and transfers it to the CSCF or MGCF of the receiving party to
The 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project - The organi- provide the communication service. The CSCF also enables
zation that defines the standards for 3G cellular phones based flexible call session control by downloading the subscriber

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 Next-Generation IMS / Core Network
The Next-Generation FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence) Core Network

mance at the visited network (“roam”). In addition, both the

CSCF and the AS linked to it can be arranged according to
the subcription so that a precise service delivery on a per-
subscriber basis is possible by arranging the CSCF according
to the service type and scale and customizing the CSCF and
AS.
(3) Services Addition Facility
The AS delivering the IMS service communicates with the
CSCF using SIF, and with the HLR/HSS using DIAMETER
(peer-to-peer protocol that provides AAA). These protocols
are used universally on the Internet so they make it easy to
add applications and contents developed for the Internet to
the IMS. At NEC, we are proposing the use of the SIP-SDP
(SIP-Service Delivery Platform) in evolving the AS by mak-
Fig. 1 IMS architecture. ing use of this flexibility of the IMS. The SIP-SDP defines a
universal service platform that is located at a higher-level
layer to the AS that is linked via the HTTP protocol, and
profile from the HLR/HSS. The profile contains the informa- provides an easy-to-use high-level API to enable the devel-
tion on the multimedia service requested by the subscriber. opment/introduction of new network services. The main fea-
The CSCF transfers the SIP signal to the AS based on the tures of the SIP-SDP include the provision of an environment
downloaded information so that the AS delivers the desired for the rapid development of attractive services such as the
multimedia service. services delivered according to the varying subscriber status
The element technologies of the IMS include; 1) subscriber in real time and those for controlling voice and image media
authentication; 2) call session control and; 3) service addition as well as the implementation of a service platform that leads
facility. to greater profit than formerly.
(1) Subscriber Authentication for IMS Access
While the 3GPP adopts hardware authentication using a hard-
3. FMC Using IMS
ware module called the SIM (Subscriber Identify Module),
which is attached to UE, the subscriber authentication of the
IMS uses the ISIM (IM Services Identify Module), which is The IMS makes it possible to integrate the currently existing
created by adding IMS related subscriber information to an networks or network services (Fig. 2).
SIM, in addition to the conventional authentication method (1) The first integration is that of the communications equip-
using the SIM. The authentication information of the ISIM is ment for use in call connections while the fixed and mobile
encrypted and transmitted on the SIP signal in order to networks use individual communications equipment at pres-
strengthen the confidentiality (digest authentication). The di- ent. The means of access is not important for the CSCF,which
gest authentication using the ISIM can be regarded as a sub- is the communications equipment used by the IMS. All that
scriber authentication technology that can improve the se- is necessary for the CSCF is that the connecting terminal has
crecy of the communication path while maintaining the high an IP address. The CSCF enables unified call processing for
security level of the SIM authentication that has been proven all of the access networks that are capable of IP-based ac-
in the past by 3GPP subscriber authentication operations. cessing, in order that the system operation efficiency of the
(2) Call Session Control in the “Home” Network communications carrier can be improved.
One of the particular cellular phone services is subscriber (2) The second integration is that of the services. The terminals
“roaming.” The traditional circuit switching method per- connected to the IMS can derive benefit from services regard-
forms call session control at the system in the visited net- less of the means of access used. For example, a single terminal
work, but the IMS performs call session control always in can receive a call whether from an ADSL/FTTH connection in
the system that accommodates the subscriber (“home”). This doors or from an outdoor cellular phone connection (unification
control method makes it possible to always deliver the same of a terminal into One Phone). Separate telephone numbers for
level of service without being affected by the system perfor- the fixed and mobile networks are not necessary but a single

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 Special Issue : Next Generation Network

ment, allowing the user to move across various access net-

works while holding the same communications.
The Mobile IP technology is the mechanism for supporting the
movement of the users in an IP network. The concept of this
technology is transferring the packets that are destined to the
original IP address to the network where a user “roams”. This
function is realized by the mobility management between the
MN (Mobile Node) and the HA (Home Agent). Fig. 3 shows the
operation of Mobile IP.
When Mobile IP is applied to FMC, data can be exchanged
between moving terminals and an IMS network, even when the
mobile and fixed networks are built using different IP networks.
However, as the Mobile IP procedure for switching the packet
transfer destination is required immediately after an access net-
work change, the time interval required to perform this process
may cause a perceivable disruption in the case of a voice com-
munication. As shown in Fig. 3, this corresponds to a drop in
the data transfer operation from ② to the end of ④. Although
Fig. 2 FMC using IMS.
the “roaming” function, with which a terminal can receive the
same service via different networks, is made possible by the
number can be used to receive any service (unification of num- Mobile IP technology, further improvements are required to
ber into One Telephone number). These functions will allow us- provide a “handover” service between different networks with
ers to receive services without being aware of whether the net- the same quality as the current mobile networks provide.
work being used is a fixed one or mobile one.
(3) The third integration is that of subscriber data. In the cur-
4. FMC Improvement Using AIPN
rent networks, the subscriber data of each subscriber is stored
separately, that is, in the subscriberʼs exchange for fixed net-
works and in the HLR for mobile networks. In the case of the As described in Section 3, even when FMC is possible by
IMS, the subscriber data is integrated and managed in the integrating services and networks based on IMS, high-speed
HSS so that the services to be delivered can be performed handover should be implemented in order to provide the same
easily by referring to the common subscriber data. quality service as with the current mobile networks.
(4) The fourth integration is that of the communications fee What is required for the high-speed handover is a close link-
payment destination. The user previously had to subscribe to
different businesses for fixed and mobile communications.
With the IMS, however, the user can receive the services
through both the fixed and mobile networks by subscribing
only to one business that is an IMS provider. They can also
pay a combined communications fee for both the fixed and
mobile communications.
In this way, the IMS realizes the FMC by providing services
uniformly to various accessing networks including fixed and
mobile networks by means of IP.
Although the FMC can deliver services regardless of the
fixed or mobile network, convergence of various access net-
works into a single network leads to a new service require-
ment. Previous mobile networks allowed the user to move in
the service areas while holding communications such as voice
calls, and the FMC is required to provide the same environ- Fig. 3 Outline of Mobile IP operation.

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 Next-Generation IMS / Core Network
The Next-Generation FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence) Core Network

age between the terminal movement following the user move- does not require the terminals to be equipped with the new mo-
ment and the mobility control of the network and this may be bility control function, it allows existing terminals and access
achieved by either of the following two methods. networks to be accommodated easily as a means of FMC ac-
One of the methods is to provide the terminals with advanced cess. This feature also makes this architecture suitable for use
mobility control functions. in step-by-step migration to the mobile Ubiquitous services.
A specific example of this approach is the Fast Handover of
Mobile IP (FMIP,) which is an extension of Mobile IP. 5. Efforts Being Carried out by NEC
The other method is to provide the network edge nodes with
a mobility control function (edge mobility).
3GPP has studied this as the All-IP Network (AIPN), and the At NEC, we have adopted a policy of developing open prod-
IETF began a similar study by calling it the Network based ucts for use in the open architecture of the core network by
Localized Mobility Management (NETLMM). leading the world in this field. Included are the aTCA (Ad-
Fig. 4 shows the outline of the AIPN architecture. vanced Telecom Computing Architecture) and the CGL (Car-
Each of the above approaches has its own advantages and rier Grade Linux) OS as well as the NEC-original HA-MW
disadvantages and its applicability varies depending on the (High Availability MiddleWare). We have already developed
particular field. However, we believe that the latter method some products that incorporate this architecture, such as the
will be more appropriate for the advancement of FMC. packet core nodes, SGW (Signaling GateWay) and HLR (Home
This is because the purpose of providing broadband services Location Register) for the 3G cellular core network and a
for any terminal can be made easier by the following two prop- CSCF and MRF for the IMS core network. With these products
erties of edge mobility: achieving excellent results in the market, we are making a sig-
(1) The non-necessity of incorporating the mobility control nificant contribution to the IP implementation of networks.
function in every terminal To implement the FMC core network, we will develop it on
 → Terminals that are not specialized for mobile services the well proven common architecture in order to meet the
can use other services. needs of carriers and end users by packaging an FMC service
(2) The low quantity of the control signals exchanged be- with the CSCF, enhancing the HSS-HLR linkage and offering
tween terminals and access nodes the gateway to enable connections between various access net-
 → The wireless access bandwidth can be utilized more works and the IMS network that feature high quality, low cost
effectively. and high speed. We also intend to actively support the ongoing
In addition, the edge mobility-based network architecture standardization activities so that we can rapidly incorporate
the appropriate industrial standards in our products.
With regard to the migration from the FMC to the NGN
(Next Generation Network), we will also offer an optimum
core network that can distinguish NEC products from those of
our competitors, by ensuring the flexible scalability of C-Plane
with a blade extension capability and increasing the capacity
of U-Plane by the use of HW.

6. Conclusion

Internet Protocol (IP) implementation of the communication

network transport enables the provision of diverse means of
access and the promotion of convergence of services. Aiming
at the realization of the Ubiquitous society in which mobile
terminals will enable the enjoyment of a wide range of broad-
band services, NEC will provide the next-generation (FMC)
core network with the smooth migration from the existing net-
Fig. 4 Outline of the AIPN architecture. works.

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Authors' Profiles

KAWAMURA Atsuo
Group Manager,
Mobile IP Network Division,
Mobile Network Operations Unit,
NEC Corporation

TAMURA Toshiyuki
Standardization Manager,
Mobile IP Network Division,
Mobile Network Operations Unit,
NEC Corporation

TSUKAGOSHI Tsutomu
Software Manager,
Mobile IP Network Division,
Mobile Network Operations Unit,
NEC Corporation

HASUMI Toshiaki
Software Manager,
Mobile IP Network Division,
Mobile Network Operations Unit,
NEC Corporation

WATANABE Kazuo
Software Manager,
Mobile IP Network Division,
Mobile Network Operations Unit,
NEC Corporation

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