IMS Playground in Pan-European Network of Testbeds; Benefits and Challenges

The main idea for launching the FOKUS IMS Playground testbed in 2004 was to provide R&D for earlier IMS developments in order to validate existing and emerging IMS standards. The IMS Playground was extended appropriately to be used on top of new access networks as well as to provide new seamless multimedia applications. The FOKUS testbed originated from own developments as well as major industry players, and is being used by academic and industrial partners for prototyping new IMS related components, protocols, and applications. The next target is to integrate FOKUS testbed in a Pan-European Network of testbeds in order to reach a broader community with the benefits of such a testbeds federation. This paper describes the FOKUS experiences at running the IMS Playground, providing a look into administrative and technical issues that need consideration on integrating testbeds. This view can be applied to run any kind of testbed. The paper presents the descriptions of the issues from service/capabilities offer to test execution, as well as the intrinsic benefits and challenges.