A move to cloud changes the game for Deutsche Telekom’s next-generation IMS

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Deutsche Telekom’s (DT’s) next-generation IMS (NIMS) project in Germany is a radical implementation of an IMS for fixed-line voice services based on DevOps automation principles and a cloud-native telco cloud. Few operators have achieved such a far-reaching deployment of a critical network function in the cloud at scale and with industry-leading levels of operational automation. The NIMS project has overcome challenges associated with the telco cloud in the areas of technology immaturity, robustness, performance and availability thanks to the exceptional collaboration that DT has fostered with its technology partners and the pioneering developments that they have achieved in the area of telco cloud automation. These achievements have resulted from the ambitious vision that DT set out for its NIMS project, which builds on earlier transformational targets for the fixed voice network.

DT’s journey towards running IMS components in the cloud began in 2015, when efforts to address issues in its fixed VoIP network resulted in critical organizational changes. These changes included the de-siloing of team structures and the introduction of new processes and skills to enable greater operational automation. This made it possible to manage the IMS more efficiently than is usually possible with a physical network function (PNF), but certain challenges remained. As components of the legacy IMS were nearing end-of-life, DT decided to further transform its VoIP network with a cloud-based transformation initiative, driven by what it believes is a ‘game-changing’ vision of zero-touch, or ‘brutal’ automation. DT’s experiences provided strong foundations for NIMS, to which the team added support for platform-based, cloud-native automation, a DevOps approach and vendor collaboration and co-creation to realize its vision.