Operators worldwide are committed to rolling out so called Next-Generation Networks NGNs. The services architecture is anticipated to be built on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architectural framework which was originally developed by 3GPP. IMS is viewed as critical to the future of operators because revenue traditionally derived from per call charging is anticipated to continue dropping, possibly to the point of zero. The hope is that IMS will provide the basis to provide appealing and chargeable services to the end user. But even before deployment, IMS has been gaining criticism which can be summed up in one question – what can IMS enable which Skype does not offer today? If call revenue continues to trend towards zero and IMS is a failure in terms of appealing service delivery, then the future of operators may well be as "dumb pipe" providers. In this scenario it is likely that operators will need to consolidate and operate under a regime of tighter margins. At the other extreme IMS may provide a great platform for developers; an ecology which brings into it the Internet and cellular networks allowing the best of both networks to be exposed. This session will feature Jenny Zhou (Orange FT Group) as the pro-IMS speaker and Martin Geddes (Telepocalypse.net/STL Partners) as the ant-IMS speaker. The session will be fairly unstructured with a lot of audience participation expected.