Download - Billing in an IMS World
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October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Billing in an IMS World
TMC IT Expo – Oct 2006Bala JanakiramanSonus Networks
www.itexpo.com
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
IMS – Enabling Rapid Service Introduction
• One core network, multiple access technologies
• Single set of applications that apply network wide
• Consistent user experience
• An environment to experiment & introduce new services
Packet Core(IP)
CircuitAccess
WirelessAccess
PacketAccess
Session Control(IMS)
ApplicationsS
imp
licit
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exib
ility
Will your Billing System be Ready?
www.itexpo.com
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Billing Challenges with IMS
• 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
RAN
IMS IMS
BBA
RAN
Real Estate Agent
Office Assistant
Voice call
Video session
Instant Messaging
Customer
www.itexpo.com
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
IMS Charging Architecture
• 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
IMS accommodates some key needs that were previously left as an exercise
Billing Domain
ONLINE CHARGINGOFFLINE CHARGING
WLAN
BGCF
MGCF
MRFC
SIP AS
CRF
AF
CDF
TPF
CS-NE
SGSN
GGSN
CGF
OCSIMS GWF
P-CSCFI-CSCF
S-CSCF
Service-NE
CCF
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October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Billing Content in IMS
• 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
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
TA
FMC Scenario – Wireline Operator
SonusIMSCore
PSTN
IMX(CCCF/NeDS)
HSX
Mobile RANSubsystem
MSC/VLR
NBS, (P-CSCF,
THIG)
HLR
Generic IPNetwork
GSX (MGCF)
GSX (BGCF)
PSX(gsmSCF)
SRX (S-CSCF)
√
√
√
√
√
Charging information generated inmultiple network elements
www.itexpo.com
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
FMC Scenario - Billing Issues to Consider
• 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
October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Impact on Billing Processes & Systems
• 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
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October 10-13, 2006• San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California
Thank YouBala [email protected]