rcs_wp

S T R A T E G I C W H I T E P A P E R

With many new communication modes available, Telcos have a unique opportunity to

combine the best of telecommunications and the Internet, to make any communication

mode available anywhere, on any screen, in a unified way. Under the umbrella of the Global

System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), service providers and equipment

vendors, in particular Alcatel-Lucent, are working together on the Rich Communication

Suite (RCS) initiative, for offering worldwide interoperable communication services.

Leveraging IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) infrastructures, such services are taking the

user experience to the next level, opening up advanced mobile communications to

fixed-mobile convergence, and to Web 2.0 integration.

Rich Communication Suite: Experience Enrichment for Business Enablement

Table of contents

1 RCS momentum

1 Meeting service challenges

2 RCS: past, present and future

2 RCS Release 1

2 RCS Release 2

2 RCS in the future

3 Key feature: interoperability

3 Strong market traction

4 Meeting user needs

5 What will RCS do?

7 Alcatel-Lucent leadership

7 A broad expertise and a comprehensive portfolio

7 A key actor with a vision

8 Conclusion

8 Abbreviations

8 References

8 Web sites

8 White papers

8 Press releases

9 Analyst reports

Rich Communication Suite: Experience Enrichment for Business Enablement | Strategic White Paper 1

RCS momentum

Under the umbrella of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), a group of industry players are working together on the Rich Communication Suite (RCS) initiative, promoting standards for delivering an interoperable, convergent, access-technology-independent rich communication experience to end users.

RCS is now an industry-leading initiative, with more than 75 operators and vendors supporting it, growing almost threefold between July 2008 and July 2009. Strongly supported by Alcatel-Lucent as one of the most active contributors, RCS has members worldwide and unites network operators and system integrators with vendors of end-user terminals, device client software, network equipment and end-user applications. It provides a common base for addressing multiple customer requirements and allows service providers to attract new subscriptions and increase communication-services use.

Meeting service challengesTodays users have access to an incredible, ever-increasing array of communication modes, including mobile phones, Instant Messaging (IM), Short Message Service (SMS), multimedia content sharing, social networks and others. While this variety offers an entirely new range of possibilities, these features also sometimes compete and are mainly supported in silos, making it more difficult for consumers to benefit from them and limiting access devices to fully featured smart phones.

The telecommunication industry is now working on breaking down these barriers by collaborating on the RCS program. Using an end-to-end approach to define a clear set of available communication services, RCS offers rich communication services leveraging an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) infrastructure.

The Alcatel-Lucent vision matches the RCS initiative perfectly, as an unprecedented way to swing back to the service providers side the innovations and business potential laying in communication applications, first in mobile, then in all domains side. It leverages their unique capacity to offer and drive mainstream adoption of the new universal communication service to their four billion interconnected subscribers. Interoperability is key to differentiating from the over the top (OTT) application silos.

The RCS initiative is gaining strong momentum today to offer a global, interoperable system:

SecondreleaseofRCSspecificationsfinalizedinJuly2009

Multicarriertrialsunderwayin2009inseveralcountries

Moreandmoredevicesavailable

MoreandmoremembersjoiningtheRCSconsortium:networkoperators,telecommunicationsvendors, application providers and handset manufacturers

Today a mobile user utilises separate and distinct services, resulting in a disconnected communications experience. RCS addresses this issue by providing enhanced and integrated services that can be customisable. The ability to utilise the core components of RCS to enhance other applications and services is very compelling, and RCS represents an important milestone for operators to offer and market seamless and differentiated service capabilities.Diane Myers, Directing analyst for service ProviDer voiP anD iMs at infonetics research

Rich Communication Suite: Experience Enrichment for Business Enablement | Strategic White Paper2

RCS: past, present and future

EstablishedinMay2007,theRCSprojectwasintegratedintotheGSMAsworkprograminAugust2008,to develop and provide a stable and proven standard framework for the definition of business models, interworking guidelines and technical-reference implementation.

RCS does not define new standards, but simply takes a pragmatic approach to bring already-defined services quickly to the market, and sets the foundation for a global interoperability program that ensures a worldwide service. It leverages existing standards such as IMS, presence and video sharing, and defines the appropriate architecture to open them to Web 2.0.

RCS Release 1From an end-user service perspective, the GSMA issued the first technical specification for RCS in December 2008. It defines the feature set for the first version of the service suite, and ensures that vendors are able to develop standard and interoperable implementations. The specification outlines the requirements for features, including:

EnhancedAddressBooktoprovidepresenceandcapabilityindications,allowuserstoinitiatecommunications, including voice calls, video calls, file transfers or messaging, and allow users to integrate multimedia elements, such as photos of contacts.

RichCalltoallowuserstoexchangedifferenttypesofcontent,suchasvideoorphotos,during a call.

RichMessagingtoexpandontraditionalIMtosimplifyandunifymultiplemessagingmediumsand provide a richer user experience.

RCS Release 2Aligned with the pre-defined roadmap, the second set of RCS technical specification (RCS Release 2) was released in June 2009, largely extending RCS to the fixed domain, for example, PC in residen-tial domain:

RCSfunctionalityonPCs:VoiceoverIP(VoIP),presence,PacketSwitched(PS)-basedvideosharing, chat and any Software Installation Manager (xSIM) authentication.

Multiscreenexperience:communicationmanagementonseveraldevicesandinitialchatmessageto all registered devices.

NetworkAddressBook(NAB):backup,restoreandretrievalandmultidevicesynchronizationbasedonSynchronizationMarkupLanguage(SyncML).

Provisioning:basedonOpenMobileAlliance(OMA)DataSynchronizationandDeviceManagement, with settings locking and automatic updates.

RCS in the futureFuture releases of RCS service are currently being defined, anticipating features such as web-services or social-network integration. In addition to the fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) features offered by RCS Release 2, future RCS specifications will integrate web services by either using or offering application programming interfaces (APIs). This feature will allow an entirely new range of services, integrating, for example, location information and advertising features.

Important future RCS features also include security, privacy, identification and authentication. These questions are of increasing concern to all users, who trust their network operator much more than web sites for securing their data. PC or Internet services authenticated using their SIM cards are clearly perceived as more trustworthy by end users.


Key feature: interoperability

On the technology front, RCS has set up a global context to ensure interoperability of all devices and platforms, inside and across operator networks. An important round of interoperability testing took place at the beginning of 2009 during a test fest co-hosted by Orange, SFR and Alcatel-Lucent. To test RCS services, 14 companies, including Orange and SFR as network providers, and Alcatel-Lucent andNokiaSiemensNetworksasinfrastructuresuppliers,andmanyotheroperators,handsetandclientvendors, came together. During a one-week period, participants initiated more than 7000 RCS sessions, testingcoreservices,includingEnhancedAddressBook,contentsharingandEnhancedMessaging,overeightdifferenthandsets.Thesesessionswereasuccessandrepresentedthefirstjointmultinetworkand multisupplier tests of RCS.

This has been an important step for RCS and Alcatel-Lucent will host other test fests in the future, in particular the one scheduled for end of 2009 or early 2010.

Strong market traction

In a world where mobile communications is quickly evolving, operators worldwide need to continue driving voice and data usage while enriching the communications experience. RCS aims to unify the communications experience by integrating presence, voice, chat, and multimedia services seamlessly to the user. It is an attractive opportunity considering the total available market of 1 billion worldwide 3G subscribers that will exist in 2010. However, the success of RCS hinges on a number of factors, including operators achieving service interoperability and native integration of RCS in mobile devices. If done right, though, service providers will be able to tap into increased revenue streams from services and applications, particularly mobile broadband, text messaging, and data services. Diane Myers, Directing analyst, service ProviDer voiP anD iMs, infonetics research

With more and more devices tested over different networks, the last quarter of 2008 and the first half of 2009 have seen a huge interest from the RCS markets, with many service providers moving quickly toward RCS worldwide (see Figure 1). Europe is setting the pace:

InFebruarythreemobileserviceprovidersinFrance,Orange,SFRandBouyguesTelecom,announced a countrywide trial in 4Q09, involving hundreds of friendly users with different device models. Alcatel-Lucent is actively supporting these operators with its IMS and RCS offer.

OtherRCStrialsarebeinginitiatedinmanycountriesthroughoutEuropefromfall2009,withthe first commercial deployments expected for 2010. Alcatel-Lucent supports in particular many trials to take place throughout Europe in 2H09.

Originating in Europe, this trend is also spreading to other parts of the world:

InAsia,KTFandSKThavejustannouncedthelaunchofthefirstpre-RCScommercialservice.As well, Alcatel-Lucent has recently completed two RCS lab trials in Asia, upgraded with added, purpose-designed use cases, and has one commercial deployment planned in 2010.

InNorthAmerica,AT&ThaspioneeredthedeploymentofRCS-likeapplicationswithvideo-shareservices, based on Alcatel-Lucent IMS. Alcatel-Lucent is supporting two RCS lab trials in the region and a commercial deployment is planned for 2010, based on its RCS solution.


figure 1: expected ramp up of subscribers by region from 2009 to 2013

Source: Infonetics, May 2009

Meeting user needsWe live in a world where users want to be able to communicate and share information any place, any time, over any device and with any of their friends. Today, a mobile user uses separate services, resulting in a disconnected communication experience. RCS addresses this issue by providing enhanced and integratedservicesthatcanbecustomized.TheabilitytousethecoreRCScomponentstoenhanceother applications and services is very compelling, and RCS represents an important milestone for operators to offer and market seamless and differentiated service capabilities.

In early summer 2009, Alcatel-Lucent led primary market research to better understand the user needs and meet them with our solutions. This research demonstrated that RCS Release 1-type features are meeting some of the most popular needs of the users interviewed (16 years to 45 years old, for consumer and professional use):

Professionalusersandconsumersolderthan25areinterestedinmanagingtheirincreasingnumberofcontacts,centralizingtheirdataandcommunicatinginamorereactiveway.

Teensandyoungadultsseemorevalueintheavailabilityandreachabilityoftheircontacts,aswellas the ability to chat with several people at one time.

Alluserswantaservicethatiseasytouse,withoutdownloading,installingorconfiguringapplications,and most of all, that would be available on inexpensive phones and not limited to elaborate devices.

Alluserswanttobeabletosharecontentanduserichcommunicationservicessuchaspicture,video or file sharing with their contacts even if they are using different types of handsets and are connected on another operators network.

RCS Release 2-type features were tested as well, and users exhibited a similar appetite for the capabilities defined (see Figure 2):

OnthePCside,usersseektoextendthecomfortofanintegratedcommunicationenvironment,such as combining voice, IM and SMS, from a mobile handset to a residential PC, to be able to send text messages more easily and have access to the content they shared earlier.


This study shows that end users believe that mobile or Internet-provider operators are in the best position to offer these types of services, compared to pure Internet players, such as Google, Yahoo, Apple, or smaller OTT application providers. Furthermore, users are ready to pay for access to this service.

figure 2: range of alcatel-lucent devices and services enabled for rcs and beyond

What will RCS do?

In the context of ever-increasing siloed-application offers relying on fully featured smart phones, the RCS initiative is, first and foremost, an unprecedented way to swing the innovation in mobile communication applications back to the operators side. It leverages their unique capacity to offer and drive mainstream adoption of the new universal communication service to their four billion interconnected subscribers. Alone you go faster, but together we go further: interoperability is key to differentiating from the silos offered by OTT applications.

With RCS, network operators have an innovative way to offer a suite of functions and APIs to mobile application developers that is not dependent on a given handset or handset vendor. Furthermore, along with the Alcatel-Lucent application-enablement vision, the operator can extend this suite of functions with capabilities beyond RCS, including location, multiscreen content sharing and e-commerce, allowing their partners to deliver applications mashing-up communication, social networking and information sharing, among others.

value of rcs for enD users Unifiedandenricheduserexperience Presenceandreachabilityservices In-callcontentsharing Securityandinteroperability


The RCS Release 2 specification offers network operators an opportunity to explore a promising evolution path: allowing converged operators to reinvestigate the domain of innovative residential communications, by intelligently leveraging their stronger mobile applications. Combining mobile-phone convenience with PC ease-of-use, converged network operators have the unique opportunity to offer truemultidevicepersonalization,where,forexample,theNetworkAddressBook,presence,voicemail,SMS, chat message and call notifications are available from any device the user chooses to operate.

RCS plays as well a strategic role in the rise of Long Term Evolution (LTE), where IMS is the only long-termsolutionforallowingvoicecommunicationthatisend-to-endIP-based.ByintroducingRCSas early as possible over Third-Generation (3G) data access, mobile network operators can anticipate the IMS-infrastructure deployment within their wireless network, facilitating their migration to LTE. It also facilitates migrating end users, who are already registered with the operators Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and already familiar with IMS-capable phones, to LTE. RCS is also an excellent way to leverage LTE capabilities and foster service revenues as their access networks evolve to high-speed wireless broadband.

Figure 3 shows the expected ramp-up of RCS service revenue, based on the fees operators will charge for these capabilities.

figure 3: expected ramp-up of rcs revenue

Source: Infonetics, May 2009

No company, not even Google, is rich enough to support all the many mobile platforms in existence, and that will force most vendors, operators and users away from an app store model that will only get more fragmented. vic gunDotra, google vP of engineering, July 09


The vision of Alcatel-Lucent goes far beyond RCS. Fueled by our application-enablement vision and asdemonstratedatmanymajortradeshowsin2009,suchasMobileWorldCongressandCTIA-TheWireless Association, our offer is allowing service providers to enrich communication services for their end users. The Alcatel-Lucent approach not only supports the RCS feature set, but also integrates withConvergedIPMessaging(CPM)andcommunicationonIP-basedtelevision(IPTV),allowingusers to communicate without barriers.

Alcatel-Lucent leadership A broad expertise and a comprehensive portfolioAlcatel-Lucent IMS applications have recently been deployed in more than 65 networks. Such deployments,featuringinnovativeapplicationssuchasEnhancedAddressBook,presence,IMandvideo sharing, offer an irreplaceable multiyear experience in pre-RCS type of applications, when RCS had not yet been invented. Of particular interest is the deployment of a video-share application at AT&Tinitiatedmorethantwoyearsago,whichconstitutedthefirstlarge-scalepre-RCSdeploymentin the world. Today, Alcatel-Lucent RCS has been selected by more than 15 service providers worldwide, includingleadingEuropeannetworkoperators,thelargestNorthAmericanandleadingAsianones.TworecentannouncementsexemplifytheAlcatel-LucentRCSleadingexpertise:SFR,BouyguesTelecom and Oranges RCS live-marketing trial in 4Q09 where Alcatel-Lucent is actively supporting theseoperatorswithitsIMS&RCSoffer;andlaunchofanRCSRelease2trialinSpainwithAlcatel-Lucentsupport.Theseprojects,aswellasmanyotherones,giveusthepositionastheclearleaderin RCS.

A key actor with a vision Alcatel-Lucent is a leading contributor to the RCS initiative, with several chairmanship positions on standards-setting committees. We have taken the leadership role in interoperability testing performed during test fests, where our RCS proved to be the most interoperable product available.

Inaddition,Alcatel-LucentnotonlyleveragestheleadingIMSportfolio;werelyonourcapacitytoresearch,analyzeandanticipateend-userexpectations,thankstoouruniqueMarketAdvantageProgramandtheBell-Labsinnovationpowerhouse.Recenttradeshows,suchMobileWorldCongress2009,demonstrated our unique capacity to innovate and anticipate future potential evolutions of the RCS offer with attractive and innovative applications.

This standards-compliance and openness, combined with the Alcatel-Lucent vision toward application enablement, allow service providers to partner with todays and tomorrows leader in this market, for leveraging a large potential ecosystem of partners and delivering attractive and differentiated telecommunication applications to their subscribers.

Alcatel-Lucent is an active member of the GSMA Rich Communication Suite program, holding leadership positions and making contributions in technical and go-to-market aspects. Alcatel-Lucents IMS core network and application servers are an RCS reference platform supporting, for example, the GSMA RCS TestFest in January 2009.Joe Mcgarvey, current analysis, iMs service Delivery PlatforM, May 26, 2009


Conclusion

GSMA RCS is a collaborative effort to define an advanced platform of feature sets and applications for users, network providers, device manufacturers and client developers, enriching existing mobile and fixed telecommunication services. These enriched services are not only attractive and innovative, but alsointeroperateacrossmanydevicesandmanynetworks;forasuccessfullaunch,interoperability is essential as an incentive for users to use services.

RCS speeds up and facilitates introducing commercial IMS-based communication services, targeting commercial interoperability across vendors and operators. The RCS initiative has defined a first core feature set for mobile handsets and has successfully tested interoperability across multiple devices and network infrastructures. As the initiative now engages in new phases, new sets of specifications are defined for extending this initial feature set toward fixed access, FMC and Web 2.0 integration.

Offering industry-leading experience in IMS and RCS, a comprehensive product portfolio, a leading market position and a unique vision, Alcatel-Lucent is the natural partner of choice for any operator interested in deploying RCS, trialing it, or even simply learning more about the potential of this initiative.

Abbreviations

ReferencesWeb sites

GSMARichCommunicationSuiteprogram: http://www.gsmworld.com/our-work/mobile_lifestyle/rcs/

White papers

Alcatel-Lucentwhitepaper:Makingadifference:AchievingcompetitivedistinctionthroughtheRich Communication Suite (PDF): http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w3cnXWL8h2VAQAOJCdBQ!!?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=White_Papers/CAR9718081110_RCS_strategy_swp.pdf

Press releases

RichCommunicationSuiteInitiativeGainsMomentum: http://www.gsmworld.com/newsroom/press-releases/2009/2531.htm

BouyguesTelecomchoosesAlcatel-LucentsIMSsolutiontocommerciallytestnewmultimediacommunications services: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/NewsReleases/Detail?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=News_Releases_2009/News_Article_001582.xml

NAB Network Address Book

OMA Open Mobile Alliance

OTT over the top

PS PacketSwitched

RCS RichCommunicationsSuite

SIM SoftwareInstallationManager

SMS ShortMessageService

SyncML SynchronizationMarkupLanguage

UMTS UniversalMobileTelecommunicationsSystem

VoIP VoiceoverInternetProtocol

3G Third-Generation

API applicationprogramminginterface

CPM ConvergedIPMessaging

FMC fixed-mobileconvergence

GSM GlobalSystemforMobileCommunications

GSMA theGSMAssociation

HSS HomeSubscriberServer

IM InstantMessaging

IMS IPMultimediaSubsystem

IPTV InternetProtocoltelevision

LTE Long Term Evolution


Alcatel-LucentcollaborateswithTelefnicainlivedemonstrationofRichCommunicationSuiteservicesattheMobileWorldCongressinBarcelonawithotherkeytelecommunicationsvendors: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_Qjz-KLd4w3MfQFSYGYRq6m-pEoYgbxjgiRIH1vfV-P_NxU_QD9gtzQiHJHR0UAAD_zXg!!/delta/base64xml/L0lJayEvUUd3QndJQSEvNElVRkNBISEvNl9BX0U4QS9lbl93dw!!?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=News_Releases_2009/News_Article_001432.xml%20

WorldsFirstRichCommunicationSuite-basedServiceNowLiveinSouthKorea: http://www.gsmworld.com/newsroom/press-releases/2009/3443.htm

Alcatel-LucentRichCommunicationsManagerprovidesnextgenerationofunifiedcommunications: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/NewsReleases/Detail?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=News_Releases_2009/News_Article_001507.xml

Analyst reports

Infoneticsreport:RCSsubscriberstohit1.3millionin2010,ledbyWesternEurope: http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2009/RCS-rich-communications-suite-market-research-highlights.asp

CurrentAnalysisreport:IMSServiceDeliveryPlatform,May26,2009

www.alcatel-lucent.com Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein. Copyright 2009 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. RMK0550090706 (09)

RCS momentumMeeting service challenges

RCS: past, present and futureRCS Release 1RCS Release 2RCS in the future

Key feature: interoperabilityStrong market tractionMeeting user needs

What will RCS do?Alcatel-Lucent leadershipA broad expertise and a comprehensive portfolioA key actor with a vision

ConclusionAbbreviationsReferences

rcs_wp

Documents

rcs momentumunder

rcs program

rich communication services

communicationservices

future2 rcs release

communication mode available

service providers

mobile phones