8/7/2006 -- Chances are, you don't know all that much about IMS -- or IP Multimedia Subsystem (not the Information Management System of mainframe yore) -- but there's an odds-on chance you'll need to know a lot more about it someday soon.

That's the conclusion of research from market watcher In-Stat, which says that enterprise customers, in particular, will become rapacious consumers of IMS services. In-Stat believes IMS could generate more than $15 billion annually by 2010 for U.S. telecommunications carriers -- with a not-insignificant share of those revenues coming from enterprise customers.

"IMS provides enterprises with the means of accommodating secure data transmittal and communication between remote workers, outsourced third-party vendors and trusted corporate partners," said In-Stat analyst Keith Nissen in a statement. "Carriers can use IMS-based network applications and services to become more than just suppliers of enterprise transport facilities."

Just why will enterprises come to IMS? In part, In-Stat speculates, because business partners, suppliers and service providers will start to incorporate more and more IMS-based network capabilities into their operations, while ISVs will deliver IMS-friendly applications (for CRM, order entry, inventory management and so on). In-Stat expects that enterprises will be able to tap resilient IMS network architectures to access highly survivable data centers. This will eliminate the need for dedicated (and expensive) stand-by systems or network facilities.

The most important takeaway, In-Stat researchers argue, is simply that enterprise customers are serious about IMS: Almost half (slightly more than 45 percent) of respondents surveyed by In-Stat said they would consider re-engineering their internal processes to take advantage of IMS-based network services with lower-cost business continuity capabilities. -Stephen Swoyer