Application middleware for convergence of IP Multimedia system and Web Services

Current network applications are typically created for one of two worlds. Communication applications targeting mobile devices usually communicate using the SIP protocol and are integrated into IP Multimedia systems of mobile network operators. On the other hand, applications targeting the enterprise market typically adhere to the SOAP protocol and integrate with Web Services exposed on the Internet. However, existing and future applications would benefit from access to services exposed by both of these protocols in both the mobile network and the Internet. In this paper we present the architecture of an application middleware that acts as a bidirectional gateway among IP Multimedia and Web Services systems. The middleware provides infrastructure for SIP and SOAP message handling, and session and network resource management. The middleware exposes interfaces for defining application specific rules for communication between protocol domains. Lastly, we outline a domain specific language that simplifies definition of such rules.