In the game of spades that is 3G, every carrier is playing their trump cards, and Sprint last week became the latest to do so, revealing it wouldn't just deploy CDMA 1X EV-DO nationwide but also would implement Lucent Technologies' IP multimedia subsystems, or IMS, platform in its network core to create North America's first truly converged wireless architecture.

The announcement came three months after Verizon Wireless said it would have 3G networks rolled out in a third of markets by the end of the year. Cingular Wireless trumped that with its plan to roll out nationwide UMTS with seamless migration to high-speed downlink packet access.

Sprint's IMS plan is the next weapon of one-upmanship.

“IMS is logically the direction we need to go in,” said Bob Azzi, vice president of network engineering for Sprint. “It's one of the key components for maintaining our data services. We would foresee the need for IMS sooner than other carriers.”

IMS is essentially the next-generation softswitch and converged IP services platform for wireless networks. It not only holds the promise of cost-savings in the core through migrating to IP switching, but it also would break down the long-standing barrier between voice and data on wireless networks. Even if Sprint keeps most of the TDM elements in its network in place, it could use the IMS platform to link data applications to circuit-switched voice and vice versa. For example, it could allow initiation of voice calls from an IM buddy list or run a video-conferencing service that uses the data network for the video feed and the circuit-switched network for voice.

The deal represents a huge a win for Lucent, which has been slower than its competitors to get its 3G technologies into commercial deployments. With the Sprint win, however, Lucent is now a major player in all three of the nationwide 3G deployments in the U.S. and — along with a deal with MMO2 in Britain's Isle of Man — has now positioned itself as a force to be reckoned with in IMS. John Marinho, vice president of strategic marketing for Lucent, claimed that Lucent is the only vendor to integrate its IMS platform with its softswitch platform, instead of offering purpose-built wireless and wireline platforms. For customers, such as Sprint, looking to converge its networks, Lucent's Accelerate softswitch technology is a natural fit, Marinho said.

“It took a little more investment and a little more time, but we now have a platform that will handle VoIP over Wi-Fi to the circuit-switched CDMA and even the wireline network — all from the same softswitch,” Marinho said. “In the case of our competitors, you'll find they'll make you go through multiple softswitches and gateways to pass between networks.”

Lucent will deploy elements of the IMS platform in phases, starting with the network softswitch and gateways and concluding with its super-distributed home location register (S-DHLR). The S-DHLR acts as central repository for all customer and application information, tracking customers across of all of Sprint's networks and managing the services those subscribers have available to them. While the IMS platform will be able to control legacy services in the network, Sprint can deploy any new services directly over the IMS platform, usually through software upgrades instead of deploying purpose-built boxes, Marinho said.

While Lucent won the largest chunk of the Sprint contract — $1.5 billion over three years — Motorola and Nortel Networks made significant gains in the deal. Motorola won a $450 million contract extension until 2006 for new 1X base station infrastructure and EV-DO upgrades — its largest 3G contract to date. Nortel won a $1 billion three-year contract for EV-DO upgrades and 1X gear as well as core switching equipment and its new Packet Data Switching Node 16000. While Nortel has had far more success in landing 3G deals than both Lucent and Motorola, it experienced a setback last month when it was not named in the final list of Cingular's vendors for its nationwide rollout, despite having launched the carrier's first four UMTS markets with AT&T Wireless.

“We regret Cingular did not pick us for that particular UMTS build,” a Nortel Networks spokeswoman said. “We maintain a very good relationship with Cingular and look forward to participating in future deployments.”