Future service capabilities offered by the 3GPP system

This paper gives an overview of some of the services that it will be possible to offer in the future to mobile users by combining a number of service capabilities specified by 3GPP the international standards setting body. Using the capabilities defined in the Release 5 set of specifications completed in 2002 as well as those that will be available with Release 6, the network operators will be able to deploy a large number of data services that are now only accessible via the Internet with the added value of mobility, security, trusted relationship, solid charging principles, and interoperability that are typical of the mobile environment. Those services will leverage on the IP multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) that brings the benefits of the session initiation protocol and IP technology to the mobile world, user related data stored in the network, a totally new air interface providing controlled quality of service and high throughput and so on. The IMS and its role in the development of services is described. Other service capabilities including presence, group management, push are then discussed. Finally we give some examples of services that combine the above service capabilities.