Date: 2 - 5 September 2008

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Organiser: ITU Telecom, Geneva

The prominent ITU Telecom event in and for the Asia-Pacific region takes place from 2-5 September 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, at the IMPACT Challenger venue.

Asia 2008 encompasses a Forum of the highest level with key names of CEOs, policy-makers, regulators, and other leading thinkers in the ICT industry. The world-renowned Exhibition features the latest technologies and innovations - a truly comprehensive array of products and services for all audiences. A host of other events and services assures the event meets all your needs.

From heads of industry to heads of government, key policy-makers, innovators and visionaries, a full cross-section of the region`s ICT primary stakeholders are always present. The event is fully representative of the Asia-Pacific ICT industry with a major Thai Pavilion marking a South East Asia presence.

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Conference attendees will hear presentations from industry thought leaders, corporate telecom and IT leaders, AOTMP experts, and others. Attendees will also choose from an in-depth line up of breakout sessions focused on improving enterprise telecom and IT operations. Breakout sessions received high praise following last year’s TEM 2007 conference, and even more breakout sessions have been added to the 2008 agenda.

Also new to the 2008 conference is the addition of live polling. Interactive communication tools will be used during select sessions to enable conference attendees to tap into the industry knowledge and experiences of other attendees.

“Our sessions featuring live polling will add an exciting dynamic to the conference,” said Tim Colwell, AOTMP Vice President of Knowledge Operations and conference chairperson. “Attendees will have the opportunity to help benchmark some of the industry’s crucial processes against AOTMP standards and best practices, and understand how their business operations fit in the industry mean.”

Conference sessions will focus on best practices to meet telecom operational objectives in the areas of: technical integrity, financial accuracy, customer support, strategic organizational support; strategies for effective management; establishing metrics for managing telecom assets; selecting the right technology, and evaluating and implementing enterprise TEM plans.

“We had tremendous feedback from last year’s conference, and are very excited about incorporating more of what attendees found most valuable into this year’s event,” said Tim Lybrook, AOTMP President and CEO. “The participation and enthusiasm from our attendees really goes a long way in making the conference a success, and a valuable learning experience.”

AOTMP will also offer five different Specialty Certification programs on-site at the conference. Each program requires six hours of education and successful completion of an online certification exam following the training. Programs offered include: Technology Selection, Wireless Management, Inventory Development, Telecom Management Strategies, and Contract Negotiations.

About AOTMP

AOTMP, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, is the unmatched authority on standards and best practices for telecom management. AOTMP focuses on providing information, resources, and benchmarking standards for professionals in the telecom industry through a number of certification programs and a comprehensive skills assessment offering.

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BOSTON, MA -- The IMS Forum®, the industry`s only association dedicated to IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) application and service interoperability certification, announced today the results from the third IMS Plugfest(TM) held Oct. 15-19, 2007 at the UNH InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) in New Hampshire. The results of the testing will be discussed by IMS Forum Plugfest III participants at the Fall VON Conference Solutions Theater at the following times:

--  Tuesday, October 30, 3:15 - 4:15 PM
--  Wednesday, October 31, 2:15 - 3:15 PM

In this round of testing the IMS Forum Plugfest members completed multi-vendor interoperability for voice, multimedia, video sharing, security and the interworking of IMS core services with 2G and 3G mobile user equipment. Plugfest III achieved the first-ever multi-vendor interoperability enabling secure mobile access to IMS services. Participating companies also demonstrated the interoperability between the Proxy-CSCF and IMS clients using IMS Authentication and Key Agreement (IMS AKA) and IP Security protocol (IPsec).

Sixteen companies participated in Plugfest III, testing the following services:

--  VoIP, Instant Messaging, and FMC using femto-cells
--  Video Sharing and Multimedia
--  Services for Businesses and Unified Communications
--  User and Application Profile Handling
--  Security, Reliability and Robustness Testing for IMS Services
--  Delivery of IMS Core Services to 2G/3G Mobile Devices
   

In addition, the Forum issued the industry`s first "IMS Report Card" addressing a number of myths that have held back the widespread adoption of standards-compliant IMS solutions. A copy of the report is available on the IMS Forum Website at www.imsforum.org.

"We can speak with increased confidence that IMS is moving forward regardless of the noise out there," said Manuel Vexler, IMS Forum Technical Chair. "Standards-compliant and interoperable IMS services are getting ready for deployment. We have seen that multiple vendors can quickly integrate and deploy service in a multi-vendor, multi-service providers IMS network. The proof is coming out of one successful Plugfest after another as noted by the industry."

"The industry is clearly beginning to seize on IMS for cost-effective delivery of new and existing multimedia IP services, and it is also feeling the pain points that come from not demanding open, standards-compliant, interoperable solutions from their vendors," said Michael Khalilian, Chairman and President of the IMS Forum. "Open IMS is no longer a question of if, but rather how long do you really want to wait."

Sponsors of the event included Empirix, Intel, and Sonus. Media Sponsors included Pulver Media, Inc., and IMS Magazine. Participants in this Plugfest included a cross-section of the IMS industry, in a clear example of the global reach of IMS:

  --  Acision                                    --  Mavenir Systems
  --  Argela Technologies                 --  Mu Security
  --  Aricent Technologies                --  NE Technologies
  --  Continuous Computing             --  Radvision
  --  CopperCom                             --  Reef Point Systems
  --  Data Connection, Ltd. (DCL)   --  Sonus Networks
  --  Empirix                                     --  Starent networks
  --  IPgallery (Gallery IP Telephony)   --  Tekelec

The IMS technology is recognized to be a cost-effective (OPEX and CAPEX) "Quadruple Play" revenue generating set of applications and services. The IMS Forum Plugfests are designed to accelerate IMS deployment. The first IMS Forum Plugfest focused on basic IP voice, routing fundamentals and the interoperability of the IMS transport layer. The second Plugfest tests built on that foundation to include interoperability for VoIP, IP Centrex, IP PBX, SMS, video sharing, basic security and fixed-mobile convergence functionality. The IMS Forum is open to all companies developing solutions for IMS. For online registration go to www.IMSForum.org or contact the forum at info@imsforum.org.

About the IMS Forum

The IMS Forum® is a global, non-profit industry association devoted to interoperable IP Multimedia Subsystem services delivery architecture and solutions. IMS Forum`s mission is to accelerate the interoperability of IMS revenue-generating services and enabling enterprise and residential consumers to fully benefit from the delivery of multimedia mobile and fixed services over broadband cable, wireless, wireline and fiber networks. The IMS Forum is the creator and organizer of the IMS Plugfest(TM), the industry`s only event focused on IMS service interoperability verification and certification through the IMS Certified(TM) program.

Through its organized Plugfests, working group interactions and other activities, forum members are able to develop cost-effective technical frameworks for converged IP services over wireline, cable, 3G, WiFi and WiMAX networks.

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