TSRB hosts next-gen telecommunications competition

The kickoff event for the second annual Tech IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) Research Competition was held in the Tech Square Research Building (TSRB) on Wednesday, giving students a chance to participate in cutting-edge research on next-generation telecommunications platforms with thousands of dollars in prizes at stake.

"The research competition is a student competition open to both graduates and undergraduates. The theme is mobile applications and is exclusive to [Tech]....The target applications are in mobility and one of the objectives is promote IMS as a technology," said Russel Clark, professor and research scientist with the College of Computing (COC) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT). Clark serves as the academic advisor and coordinator for the competition.

IMS is a next-generation architectural framework to deliver Internet multimedia to mobile users.

"One unique thing about this competition is that...[compared] to other technical competitions out there, this one doesn't just focus on having a cool idea or a cool prototype. This is about having a prototype and a business plan that goes along with it. This includes a marketing plan, a knowledge of the application space that you're competing in and how you might competitively market your idea," said Matt Sanders, research scientist at OIT and IMS program coordinator.

Created by the partnership of Tech, AT&T and NSN, the IMS competition brings together groups of students to compete against each other at building prototype systems that run on the IMS framework. The competition encourages the groups to have an interdisciplinary makeup, not only because the groups are judged on their prototype systems, but also because they are judged on their business plans and commercial viability.

"One of the challenges we had last year was trying to form these diverse teams with people from different colleges. We had some computer science students who didn't compete because they [couldn't form teams that] had all the skills to compete. This is an opportunity for students in the College of Management, LCC, Psychology and anywhere else to come and form a team," Sanders said.

Last year, 43 people, composing 15 teams, competed for prizes in the categories of Business Users, IMS Enabling, Young Adults/Teens, Campus Community and Families. First place winners in each category all won $15,000, one honorable-mention team won $5,000 and the overall grand-prize winning team won $35,000.

The grand-prize winning team created a system called SoCoNet, described as a mobile version of social networking sites like MySpace and Friendster. Users could form and join groups of other users, and using IMS, share their position with other members on a map. Clicking on another user's icon would initiate a push-to-talk session.

The SoCoNet team was composed of Christian Menkens, Matthew Rhodes, Anders Davoust and Nils Kjellin. They were one of the teams that had a diverse makeup with Menkens, Davoust and Kjellin coming from the COC and Rhodes from the College of Management. Rhodes also started at offensive guard for the football team.

"I don't know where he found the time to work on the project. If he can find the time, anyone can," Sanders said.

This year's competition has three categories and is again available to all Tech students in teams of up to four. Each category has a $10,000 first place prize and a $5,000 second place prize. Eight individual summer internships will also be available.

Students from last year's competition were present at the kickoff. John Etherton, a master's student in the COC, was a member of the team that won first place in the Business User category.

"The $100,000 in prizes was definitely a draw, and personally, I am really interested in mobile devices. It is a great way to build a resume....I wish I did something like this as an undergrad," Etherton said. He also said that his experience with the business-side of the competition was interesting, like identifying the "gee whiz" aspect of an idea for people who don't necessarily get excited with the technical aspects.

The other part of the kickoff consisted of a five person panel discussion with representatives from Tech, AT&T and NSN.

"It is exciting to work closely with the students," said Mario Muth, part of the AT&T Customer Business Team with NSN and member of the discussion panel.

"This is the first generation that has grown up with both computing and mobility. The last generation had computers, but this is the first generation of students that have had access to mobile devices in their formative years," said David Lews, head of the customer marketing group at NSN.

"[The IMS program] provides an opportunity to Tech students by providing Tech with a commercial-grade platform," said Jeffrey Ezell, Vice president of Long Term Planning and Business Development at AT&T.

As part of their partnership, NSN installed a lab in the TSRB with core IMS technologies, valued at $5 million, accessible to Tech students and faculty. Sanders said that the competition is a great opportunity for students because of the access to industry and the similarity to starting up a business.

Traditionally, startup costs are too high for most individuals. Access to this kind of industry-level equipment and tools is unprecedented.

"There really aren't any other universities that have this opportunity for their students. Recognition of this outside of campus is impressive. Students are getting job opportunities. A number of students came to us in the fall, indicating that one the factors to coming to Tech was this," Clark said.