Transcript Billing in an IMS World

October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Billing in an IMS World
TMC IT Expo – Oct 2006
Bala Janakiraman
Sonus Networks
www.itexpo.com
IMS – Enabling Rapid Service Introduction
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Flexibility
Simplicity
Applications
Session Control
(IMS)
Packet Core
(IP)
Circuit
Access
Packet
Access
Wireless
Access
• One core network,
multiple access
technologies
• Single set of
applications that apply
network wide
• Consistent user
experience
• An environment to
experiment & introduce
new services
www.itexpo.com
Will your Billing System be Ready?
Billing Challenges with IMS
Customer
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Real Estate Agent
RAN
RAN
IMS
IMS
BBA
Voice call
• Pieces of information about a
session (call) come from
various places
• Multiple levels of correlation
required by billing mediation
• Business rules need to be
carefully understood – may
vary per service
• Some services will need
online charging
• Accounting for peering
arrangements with other
carriers
Video session
www.itexpo.com
Office Assistant
Instant Messaging
IMS Charging Architecture
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Billing Domain
CS-NE
Service-NE
SIP AS
MRFC
CCF
MGCF
BGCF
CGF
CDF
P-CSCF
I-CSCF
S-CSCF
IMS
GWF
OCS
WLAN
SGSN
GGSN
TPF
OFFLINE CHARGING
CRF
ONLINE CHARGING
• All IMS core network
elements provide charge
event information via
Diameter
• Charge-related information
supported in SIP headers
• Correlation support – built in
• Selectable Charging
Collection Function – built in
• Support for peering
arrangements - built in
AF
IMS accommodates some key needs that were
previously left as an exercise
www.itexpo.com
Billing Content in IMS
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
• Charging information not as richly defined as that of legacy
services
• Diameter events (charging information) may be underspecified in
some cases for some service providers
– E.g., strict AMA requirements may require certain extensions
to the charge events
Integrating IMS services into a legacy environment requires
careful examination of call-flows and data creation
www.itexpo.com
FMC Scenario – Wireline Operator
√
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
GSX (MGCF)
Mobile RAN
Subsystem
MSC/
VLR
HLR
√
PSTN
GSX
(BGCF)
√
SRX (S-CSCF)
√
HSX
TA
Generic IP
Network
√
IMX
(CCCF/NeDS)
Sonus
IMS
Core
PSX
(gsmSCF)
NBS,
(P-CSCF,
THIG)
Charging information generated in
multiple network elements
www.itexpo.com
FMC Scenario - Billing Issues to Consider
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
• Service pricing: Monthly subscription, Tiered minutes/megabytes
options, content charging
• Same or different rates for cellular/wi-fi legs
• Correlating charging information from multitude of elements for the
same call
• Support for pre-paid and post-paid subscribers
• One bill or separate bills for FMC & Broadband Access services
• Roaming agreements with Mobility Partners
• Collecting call detail records from Mobility Partners for analyzing service
quality during roaming sessions
www.itexpo.com
Impact on Billing Processes & Systems
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
• Sourcing the CCF & OCS
– Equipment Provider or BSS provider or home-grown?
– Multi-vendor support (because of vendor extensions to standards)
• Operational needs of online charging
–
–
–
High availability – 99.999%
Low latency – response in ms
High transaction throughput
• New IMS based services will require flexible billing options – can the billing
infrastructure support this?
•
Pre-paid, post-paid, content-based, session based billing
• Will the existing BSS support IMS services?
–
Phased migration
• IMS enables you to create a variety of services – ease & speed of BSS
customization will be key to success
www.itexpo.com
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Thank You
Bala Janakiraman
[email protected]
www.itexpo.com