IMS service broker SCIM enriching REST based Web 2.0 Mashup's

Telecom based service providers are relentlessly trying to accelerate their service offerings to match the pace at which the users are embracing the Web. In reality IMS based Telecom and Internet based Web 2.0 networks have their own advantages and need to co-exist to create an enriched user experience. The convergence of IP Multimedia subsystem (IMS) based Telecom and Web 2.0 based networks is slowly gaining momentum. IMS primarily provides an access agnostic network to securely access a variety of communication services with guaranteed Quality of Service (Qos). Web 2.0 on the other hand has provided a different dimension by acting as a platform for creation of innovative community services in a networked world. IMS standardization body Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), has envisioned the need of a service broker to leverage the IMS capabilities in the converged world. IMS as an overlay network that bridges across various wire line and wireless networks, IMS uses gateway Application Servers to access services from outside networks. This paper explores the benefits of using a Service Broker as a gateway for enabling Web 2.0 applications to create context aware Mashups in the Converged IMS and Web 2.0 world. The proposed architecture models the Service Broker, i.e. Service Control interaction Manager (SCIM) to securely access and operate on the user's mobile context in a simple way using Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural pattern. The goal of the architecture is to leverage the rich user information available across disparate applications in the IMS world in a simple and convenient manner to be accessed by the Web 2.0 Mashup to enrich the user's communication experience in the converged network. A use case on healthcare has been successfully implemented on the IIIT Bangalore IMS Innovation Centre test bed to test the above proposed concept.