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"To efficiently charge multiple simultaneous usages in these scenarios,
the billing system should support multi-vendor, multi-service CDR collection and
mediation."
Source : nTels Co Ltd
The Convergent Mediation Solution--Competitive Advantage Enabler
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Notice
This document contains proprietary and confidential information of nTels and shall not be reproduced or
transferred to other documents, disclosed to others or used for any purpose other than that for which it is furnished,
without the prior written consent of such nTels companies.
The trademarks and service marks of nTels, including the nTels mark and logo, are the exclusive property of nTels,
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Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. Introduction
The notion of having disparate mediation systems in today's service oriented telecommunications industry is no
longer valid. Faced with diminishing ARPU and increasing customer churn from intense competition, service
providers are looking for alternatives that will address such critical business issues. The accurate and timely
knowledge of the customers detailed information such as usage patterns, preferences, spending habits and
duration can provide competitive advantages to service providers.
With the industry convergence towards ALL IP networks, significant investments have been made towards
upgrading existing networks to 3GPP compliant infrastructures to ensure that service providers stay one step
ahead of their competition. Traditional services such as voice and text messaging are no longer sufficient to fuel
the growth of service operators in most markets across the region. The emergence of content-based services like
video telephony, music downloads, streaming video, mobile gaming, etc serves to differentiate product offerings
from competitors to capture market share in an ever challenging environment. At the same time, this has also
propelled the need for service operators to consider a flexible and adaptable infrastructure to support the complex
billing requirements to support such services.
At the heart of a service provider Operations Support System (OSS) in a typically large IT infrastructure, there exist
numerous mediation interfaces each performing the tasks of collecting, formatting and distributing different types of
call detail records (CDR) to the downstream applications for billing purposes. As next generation services become
more common and critical for a large audience of enterprise customers and consumers, the volume and
complexity of such CDRs can increase at an exponential speed. Having separate mediation systems for each
service type may be sufficient to direct usage traffic, but it is no longer economically feasible to meet the punishing
performance, reliability and scalability pressures associated with a growing base of customers.
The need for a convergent mediation system that can support multiple service types (voice, data, content) is very
much apparent these days. In such challenging environments, a robust and flexible convergent mediation system
provides a single platform to support uniform interfaces and allow simple extension of modules to support the
drastic changes in the expanding business environment. Key benefits such as higher performance and reliability,
accurate billing, improved customer satisfaction, lower operating expenses, faster time-to-market for new services
and simplified system integration can be derived directly from a convergent mediation platform.
Over the last 5 years, nTels has invested key resources into developing core mediation OSS products with
convergence in mind. Through implementation experiences in SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea
with 19 million subscribers, we have learnt the importance of an open, multi-service, multi-platform supported
convergent mediation system in providing a configurable, flexible and reliable solution for data processing. Behind
the significant shift from circuit switched-based networks to a packet-based, wireless data service system, SK
Telecom realized that it is strategically & financially unfeasible to simply add more systems and administrators
whenever it signs up new customers. A more pragmatic and proactive approach needs to be taken, and a
convergent mediator suite is the product of such a paradigm shift.
1.2. The Evolution of Mediation
As service offerings continue to evolve with technology advances, information generated from such services have
proven to be a mounting challenge as service providers struggles to collect and process them. Additional network
elements, sometimes supplied by different vendors, are being placed in the OSS infrastructure driven by these
new service offerings. This inevitably increases the data sources as well as introduces new mediation systems to
interface and capture such new sources of information. As a result, substantial customization effort is needed from
service providers to handle the increasing number of data formats. After the collection processes, these traffic and
network information from different input CDRs still need to be merged in order to construct meaningful billing
information to be displayed on a consolidated bill.
Traditionally, the approach of using separate mediation systems to support new service offerings was justifiable as
long as it enabled a functional OSS to exist. In the lack of intense competition, this relatively cost-ineffective
method (involving multiple maintenance and upgrade processes) was not a major concern especially for
monopolistic markets where the incumbent service provider holds the majority of the market share. However, with
opening markets and induced competition gathering speed, service providers with disparate systems are feeling
the heat amidst calls to minimize costs and maximize revenue.
Furthermore, with service providers striving for differentiation through the introduction of new and innovative
service offerings, the amount of information to be processed continues to grow at a punishing pace. With the
legacy approach of utilizing a number of disparate mediation systems to manage the enormous volume and
variety of data, billing errors and revenue leakages often occur as a result of missing or incorrect data, further
highlighting the severe shortcomings of the approach.
1.3. Convergence Holds the Key to Competitive Advantage
Under pressure to maximize operational efficiency of their current OSS, systems convergence in the mediation
layer provides an excellent starting point to enable a smoother end-to-end flow of information across multiple
services. A flexible, configurable and reliable convergent mediation suite not only adds value to the service
providers, it also acts as an enabler of substantial competitive advantage. As service providers move towards 3G
arena, their networks and their OSS need to evolve and shift towards mediation convergence. When implemented
successfully, service providers can reap huge rewards from the shift in the OSS model and allow the development
of a competitive advantage. Tangible and intangible Benefits can be classified into 3 broad areas: customer
satisfaction, cost savings and revenue assurance.
Customer Satisfaction
- New Service Offerings
Convergent Mediation provides the platform from which cross product bundling can be created and this will allow
service providers to create differentiation
- Competitive Price Package
Improved cost efficiencies for the business entity will enable service providers to transfer cost savings to customers
by generating competitive pricing models
- Time-to-Market Strategy
A convergent mediation environment will give the OSS capabilities to increase its speed of introducing new
services to the market
- Single View of Information
Consolidated view to process voice, data and content services assists service providers to respond to customers
effectively and efficiently, increasing customer satisfaction levels drastically.
Cost Savings
- System Operations
Having a common mediation interface helps to reduce complexity during application enhancement process and
this added simplicity will help to reduce costs through elimination of redundant systems
- Performance Optimization
Increased capacity and concurrent multi-processing mechanisms serves to address high data volume and
maximize performance to eliminate bottlenecks caused by disparate systems
- Enhanced IT Planning
A convergent mediation environment will give the OSS capabilities to increase its speed of introducing new
services to the market
- Accurate & Real-time billing
Reduced data errors as a direct result of the convergent mediation's strengths in improving data flows and
minimize costs associated with corrupt data.
Revenue Assurance
- Maximize Revenue
Revenue can be maximized through mediation of IP and other traffic with partner carriers. Value-based charging
enabled by content billing capabilities and improved accuracy in settlements processes also contribute to raising
revenue
- Minimize Churn
Seamless correlation and distribution of data minimizes errors when consolidating meaningful customer
information for billing purposes, thereby improving customer loyalty and minimizing churn
- Bad Debt Control by Hot Billing
Real-time mediation capabilities are critical to support hot billing with the domination of prepaid subscribers in
developing markets. As value-added services are being offered on prepaid domain, service providers need to
enforce strict credit control by relying on the real-time benefits of their convergent mediation solution
- Sophisticated CDR Processing
With more sophisticated CDR capabilities such as correlation made possible through convergent mediation, the
solution can provide increased granularity of data (breakdown of volume by service type instead of just total
content) which facilitates accuracy in settlement processes (which may grow exponentially as number of content
service providers increases)
This whitepaper will demonstrate in detail the critical success factors in implementing a convergent mediation
system to realize these benefits and more.
Chapter 2. Critical Success Factors
Convergence of mediation is a complex exercise that cannot be achieved overnight. Management commitment
must be strong as the process of centralizing the mediation layer can only be executed in successive phases to
minimize disruption to existing networks for incumbent service providers. Several critical success factors are
needed to ensure that competitive advantages can be harnessed by next generation service providers through the
implementation of a convergent mediation solution.
2.1. Network Independence
The solution must be able to cater to a variety of network protocols and interfaces so that new service offerings can
be introduced quickly with minimal customization effort. The focus of today's service providers is the convergence
of services, from traditional PSTN to Triple Play product offerings that combine Voice, Data and Multimedia content.
The emergence of new frameworks like IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) built specifically for mobile networks
provides the foundation from which innovative services can be launched. With new signalling protocols such as
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) accompanying emerging networks, the mediation system need to allow service
providers to react quickly and proactively control their environment to take advantage of emerging network
requirements.
2.2. Well-Defined Product Road Map
Many vendor solutions in the market today advocate convergent mediation as their core competency. However,
few possess an extended road map that details the evolution of their products. Without a proper evolution path, the
risks of implementing such solutions as the central meditation in the service providers OSS could be so high that it
can seriously hamper the success of the implementation. Service providers need to be aware of this to avoid such
pitfalls in their relentless pursuit for a convergent mediation solution. nTels has charted out a well-defined product
road map that truly demonstrates the commitment towards development of an industry recognized mediation
solution.
2.3. Robust and Flexible Architecture
The target convergent mediator needs to capture usage information from the network and service infrastructure,
and then distribute it to downstream applications such as billing, settlement, marketing and other Business Support
Systems (BSS). Given the volume and complexity of the data streams, it is imperative that the architecture can
support the stringent real-time performance and scalability requirements of the next generation service providers
OSS. Future expansion needs and backward compatibility needs to be balanced especially when we move
towards 3G and beyond.
2.4. Competitive Pricing Enabled by Value-Based Charging
Service Providers are always looking for ways to differentiate their product offerings from their competitors. The
service provider who possesses a solution that can process data of diverse services transmitted through
heterogeneous networks without any errors will have unique advantage. Traditional time or volume-based flat rate
charging is no longer viable for next generation services such as video streaming or music download. The
challenge is for service providers to create business models and pricing schemes that can reflect accurately the
value of services offered. For example, traditional packet volume charging process rates the usage data record at
flat rate of $0.065 per packet. The customer may use several service types involving WAP, mobile gaming and
video-on-demand all within a single data session. An aggregated CDR of such a session, consisting of total packet
usage of 300 packets, will cost $19.95 (300*$0.065) which is considerably expensive from customer's viewpoint.
Without a comprehensive packet analyzer to breakdown the packet usage into the distinct service types, it is
impossible to compete with a rival service provider who can provide such a feature. The pricing packages can be
very competitive as a direct result of valued-based charging capabilities.
2.5. Configurable Business Rules
The convergent mediation solution should be quickly deployable
out-of-the-box; while allowing changes to existing
business rules, and rapid creation of new ones. Client-based GUI tools
should be intuitive enough to support the
various operations involving arithmetic operators (+,-,*, /),
relational operators (=, <>, >, <, <=, >=), logical
operators (AND, OR, NOT), and more complex operations such as
CONCATENATE, MOD, SPLIT. A rule-based
architecture will allow service providers to define and modify business
rules and swiftly add new services by
minimizing application modifications. This will be especially critical
to a service provider's capability to meet the
dynamic changes in business rule with soaring data and multiple data
streams.
Each the factors identified are necessary to ensure successful implementation of the convergent mediation
solution. These are also key selection criteria that service providers should evaluate when choosing an appropriate
vendor to supply the desired convergent platform. Without any of the above, it will be very difficult to achieve the
competitive advantage needed to gain an edge over rival market players. In addition, any short cuts or technical
pitfalls may be compounded as the mediation layer of the OSS evolves.
Chapter 3. Finding the Right Fit
Mediation is a "mission-critical" strategic investment that service providers strive to undertake to reach the ultimate
objective of a truly convergent business model. Given the importance and financial scale of this investment,
choosing the correct Convergent Mediation Solution can be a daunting task. Finding the missing link to integrate
new systems seamlessly into existing OSS can often determine the difference between success and failure.
Furthermore, this task is made even more challenging by individual mediation vendor's exaggerative claims of their
systems functionality without conclusive support. The key hallmarks of a truly convergent mediation platform will
be highlighted in this section which will assist service providers in making more informative assessment of vendor
solutions in their quest for the "holy grail" in mediation.
3.1. Functions of a Good Mediation Platform
In an evolving environment where network convergence (IP and TDM) continues to dominate the playing field, the
mediation layer needs to perform the following key selected functions:
Network Data Collection
The mediation engine needs to be able to collect event data from disparate network elements dynamically in real-
time or near real-time. In addition, it should also support file-based or record-based collection of data information
from different network protocols.
nTels N-Mediator Suite is a good example that can perform accurate and timely data collection from different
network elements.
Network Data Processing
Event data generated from network elements typically has various formats according to network element vendors.
The mediation solution should be able to convert these heterogeneous event data into a standardized format for
downstream distribution. In addition, the user interface should allow service providers to customize field formats,
field mappings, action rules, validation rules according to business requirements easily.
Data Distribution
Data distribution involves transmission of reformatted usage data to downstream systems like CCBS, Data
Warehouses, etc in real-time or near real-time via the suitable network protocols required. A convergent mediator
should allow the user to register and manage the downstream application interface information, such as IP
address, system name, transmission interval, transmission unit and protocols easily by specifying such information
in the user interface.
Data Aggregation
In existing voice mediation environment, it is typical for a single CDR to be generated per call session from a
network element. On the other hand, in an all IP environment or packet-switched data networks, multiple interim
event records are typically generated during a single session. In such scenarios, data aggregation is necessary to
combine multiple interim records to form a single CDR record for charging purposes. The amount of information to
be processed in the downstream Business Support Systems can be significantly reduced through aggregation
capabilities. More importantly, easily configurable aggregation rules that enable users to define according to
business rules would be a plus. This allows the mediation system to effectively buffer event records generated
from network elements and reduces the system load on the downstream applications significantly.
Data Correlation
As network environments evolve into 2.5G and 3G standards, new and innovative services such as stock updates
and ring tone downloads may be available to subscribers within a single connection or session. During any
particular session, event data may be collected as separate event records with different formats from disparate
network elements. For billing purposes, a Service Provider has to select and group records generated from the
same session from multiple network elements. Once the event records are distinguished and collected, the
information is correlated to form one single billable record. Ability to perform complex correlation of events and a
highly customizable correlation business rules configurator are the unmistakable hallmarks of a truly convergent
mediator.
Data Filtering
Not all event data fields generated from network elements are needed for downstream applications. Depending on
the requirements of downstream applications, the required fields of the same event record may vary. For example,
the fields required by a billing system are different from one required by a data warehouse. In addition, the physical
value of the same field may differ across network elements and Business Support Systems. Mediation requires an
extensive filtering process to extract only the necessary fields and to convert them into a format suitable for 3rd
party applications.
Duplication Checking
Duplicated data processed during mediation can cause serious downstream effects on billing and impact both
customer satisfaction and revenue. On the other hand, missing data can also affect service providers adversely in
the same way. It is imperative that the mediation solution must be able to avoid data omission and remove
duplicate data to ensure accurate billing. Duplicated event records should not be distributed to billing systems but
stored in separate databases for future investigation purposes.
Operation & Administration
The ability to easily configure business rules and manipulate interfaces is as important as the core functionalities
listed above. Having a dynamic administrative tool that can provide interactive navigation screens to customize
each key component of the mediation solution is the desired approach. A logically workflow-centric navigation can
provide fast and timely access to manage processes, monitor performance, configure business rules, exception
handling and audit information. The user interface should ideally be supported by a web browser to enable rapid
deployment to a large user base (e.g. executives, IT managers, operations staff, etc). This can enable
configuration management to be performed from anywhere where an internet connection is present and ensure
high productivity.
3.2. The Ideal Product Architecture
The convergence of voice and data services to a single device is driving the need to revisit the existing network
architecture as mediation gains importance in the OSS. In the increasingly challenging environment of 2.5G to 3G
networks, traffic information driven by transactions in the OSS can potentially originate from anywhere within the
network. In addition, these transactions often involve different data formats and different transmission protocols
depending on the type of networks. The target product architecture must ideally be able to provide the flexible and
modular platform as the link between network elements and the various downstream systems. Due to the
potentially dynamic nature of 3rd party network vendors and business partners (numerous network elements
versus numerous internal and external trading partners), the mediation layer within the OSS becomes the logical
point to contain and exercise business rules. The same mediation layer also becomes the logical point for
accounting purposes for all transactions that occur because all traffic transactions have to pass through this layer
for detail processing before distribution to downstream systems.
Modular & Adaptive
Increasing upstream and downstream interfaces also introduce complex new challenges to the OSS. The more
software modules and more hardware components to interface with, the more increase in the possible points of
failure and more difficulty in management. To further complicate matters, architecture designers of today's OSS
must address today's issues while attempting to protect their OSS against possibility of massive upgrades when
moving into 3G world and beyond. Issues of backward compatibility and future needs create significant challenges.
In order to meet such challenges, the product architecture should be modularized to increase its adaptability
towards changing standards and emerging technologies. An alternative towards achieving this type of architecture
would be to adopt a workflow-centric approach that segregates core business functionalities from system
interfaces. Software vendors who are able to compartmentalize their products would have a competitive edge in
terms of cost efficiencies and software extensibility.
Service providers need only purchase those modules which they require at present and upgrading in the future
would only involve additional module plug-ins with minimal changes to existing network infrastructure. This would
not only lower total cost of ownership but also reduces greatly the complexity of maintenance. nTels N-Mediator
Suite is a good example of a modular product architecture that can prove to be a cost-efficient approach to
achieving true mediation convergence.
Scalable and Highly Available
As mediation becomes an integral component of the OSS this places stringent SLA requirements on the
convergent mediation solution in terms of scalability and availability.
Scalability is necessary to guarantee that the system can handle increasingly complex mediation as subscriber
numbers and the range of services increase. Processing millions of CDR records daily is a complex and
cumbersome task. This is especially true where prepaid records are concerned due to real-time balance
management. It is vital that additional volumes and complexity do not degrade real-time operations. Any latency
introduced can impact billing capabilities and ultimately, revenue flows.
As the mediation system is a key component of the OSS, it must provide high availability to guarantee service
billing and revenue capture. Collecting, formatting and distribution of usage data transactions in real time must
involve continuous processes to minimize revenue leakage through missing or corrupt data. This usually involves
having backup mediation systems in an active-standby setup with fail-over mechanisms.
Because of the shift in focus towards the account-centric approach, where charging is done in real time as an
integral part of service delivery, the products in the mediation layer of the OSS must have the same scalability and
high availability performance and resilience as the underlying telecom network. The following deployment details at
an Asian Tier 1 operator demonstrates the sheer volume of CDR generated and complexity of interfaces the
mediation solution need to handle on a daily basis.
Chapter 4. Case In Point: SK Telecom
It is very difficult to put theory into practice without a concrete reference site that can showcase the benefits of
convergent mediation. Like a visionary picture, a practical example of the successful implementation of convergent
mediation solution at a service provider can speak a thousand words. We need to look no further than SK Telecom,
the number one mobile operator in South Korea with a service base of 19 million subscribers, with its
implementation of the nTels Convergent Mediation Solution as its competitive advantage enabler.
4.1. Growing Pains
Timing is everything, particularly for SK Telecom. Managers need to get new products to market quicker and to
improve the process of data mediation, in order to ensure accurate billing. Over the years, SK Telecom has grown
to become one of the world's leading implementer of 3G services, being the only operator in the world who had
implemented 3GPP Release 5 specification in November 2004. Behind this was a major shift in SK Telecom's
business model " from a switching-based service to a packet-based, wireless data service system. Previously, the
company simply added more systems and administrators whenever it signs up new customers. However this
approach proved to be economically draining and could not keep up with rapidly growing base of customers and
their evolving demands.
4.2. Adapting to Business Needs
In such an advanced telecommunications environment as South Korea, mediation is not just capturing and
distributing usage traffic, it also has to control service delivery, perform real-time tracking of usages, and
simultaneously manage data, voice and even broadcast TV on the handset. System flexibility is no longer a nice to
have but a business necessity. With over 2 million unique content items users have to choose from, SK Telecom
launches and retire about 5000 content items daily. This sheer volume of customization requires the need for a
mediation solution that can adapt to a vast array of special business practices and processes. nTels' mediation
solution has a robust business rules platform that allows SK Telecom users to make changes to their
configurations without the need to modify the underlying code or custom alterations.
4.3. What You Value is What You Pay
The most significant innovation that nTels deliver for SK Telecom is value-based billing. Value-based billing is
charging the subscriber what he's willing to pay. With value-based billing, prices differ based on factors such as
quality of service, the time it was purchased, or the subscriber's ability to pay. It allows SK Telecom to maximize
revenue or "yield" from a limited resource. Just like an airline operator who differentiates prices based on several
pricing factors (open return, cancellation option, schedule change, off-peak dates, etc) to optimize revenue per
seat, SK Telecom also strives to maximize revenue per bandwidth, which is the "scarce commodity" within
telecommunications network. The cost of deploying switches and routers; build base stations; and maintenance of
such networks, can be huge. Especially when you are offering high-bandwidth content services like MMS and
game downloads across a 19 million subscriber base.
With differentiated rates enabled through value-based billing, price-sensitive subscribers could download an
otherwise expensive movie during an off-peak hour such as 3.00am in the morning. This allows SK Telecom to
extract the greatest possible revenue yield per bandwidth. Furthermore, such differentiated rates serves to reward
subscribers for helping SK Telecom optimize network utilization. Part of the mediation solution at SK Telecom
includes nTels' industry-acclaimed N-PSG product, which analyzes the IP packet data usage and extract
information such as content type " WAP, MMS, game, etc. Coupled with a robust mediation engine like nTels' N-
Mediator, these content CDRs are correlated and aggregated to form meaningful information for downstream
billing and charging purposes. Such information allows the service operator to introduce differentiated charging
based on data content and bandwidth usage to drive revenue.
4.4. Multi-Processing
Accurately measuring usage in a large 3G network is a tall order in itself. Making sure the system scales for
peak efficiency is another major challenge. With a daily load of 500 million CDRs, the mediation hardware
within SK Telecom needs to be scaled to such a heavy load of data. nTel's convergent mediation solution
runs on a high-end 32 CPU AIX machine that is able to support the rigorous requirements for a tier 1 operator
like SK Telecom. The aggregation load is spread across 10 separate CPUs to allow for multi-processing
efficiency. Such multi-processing capabilities also made it easier for SK Telecom to migrate from its legacy
mediation systems. The multi-processing scheme partitions computing so that the legacy system processes
old usage data streams while the more advanced mediation engine handles the evolutionary and emerging
services.
Chapter 5. Conclusion
The challenges brought on by convergent network technologies have prompted service providers to revisit
their existing mediation layer within the OSS. Traditionally, mediation started as a series of dedicated
interfaces between network elements and downstream functional applications. As new network elements are
being introduced into the network, the number of interfaces grew as well. This often results in serial data
paths existing between multiple network elements and multiple functional applications. Not only does this
result in operational inefficiencies, it also increases drastically the total cost of ownership. No longer can
service providers afford to ignore convergence in the area of mediation since it is a crucial component in any
OSS.
It is evident that a robust and flexible Convergent Mediation Solution can help to dynamically manage data
flows through the OSS to enable a service provider competitive advantage over its rivals. However, extreme
caution must also be taken during the selection of a mediation system vendor. The selection of a good
convergent mediation solution must be one of the priority decisions to be made during the evolution of the
OSS due to mediation's strategic role. The benefits of a good mediation system can be tremendous, and
should be exploited to enable any service provider to introduce new and innovative services quickly and
efficiently.
Mediation system requirements are fast changing due to the evolutionary nature of the telecommunications
environment. Service providers need to re-think traditional business strategies and make better use of the
information generated by their services to gain competitive advantage. The business intelligence provided by
a true Convergent Mediation Platform can help the service provider to generate higher financial returns and
lower operational costs
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