IP Multimedia Communications

IP Multimedia Communications (▲IPMC) represents a significant step forward in terms of communications capabilities for end users. Unlike years past when the ▲PSTN only enabled a user to make a simple voice phone call, the Internet has opened the door to endless possibilities. Today, people enjoy ▲VoIP, ▲videoconferencing, web collaboration, and ▲instant messaging services offered from a wide number of service providers.

However, we are only at the beginning of this significant change in the way people communicate. While a tremendous amount of effort has been spent so far in defining next generation communication capabilities, we have only begun to tap the real potential of ▲IP networks. Capabilities like life-like high definition videoconferencing and concepts like device interconnectivity, which would enable one to seamlessly share a document on a PC while talking on a mobile phone, are new frontiers that are just now beginning to be explored.

Further, the world is becoming increasing mobile. Advances in mobile technologies will enable people to use mobile devices to perform many of the same functions that a computer or fixed telephone device can do today. Just imagine watching a movie on your mobile phone while riding the train home from work, then moving the video stream from your mobile device to your high-definition video display device in your home without any disruption. It is not only cool, but possible with technologies under development.

In the future, people will not think about computers when they think about multimedia communications. Rather, they will intuitively use a multiplicity of devices that offer various capabilities in order to realize a rich multimedia communication experience.