Comarch Service-Agnostic Transaction Engine

Overview

Comarch Service-Agnostic Transaction Engine is a component specialized in processing information about various transaction types. Processing can be configured using rules and may include configuration for data loading , pre-processing, rating / pricing, aggregating, statistic building, correlating with other events and storing in the database.

The Transaction Engine can process the data in real-time as well as in batch mode.

Many Comarch customers (including Polkomtel, Bouygues, Auchan Telecom, NASK, TP S.A. ) are using the Transaction Engine (also called Data Processing Server) as the important part of their BSS solutions for processing millions of events every day.

Comarch Service-Agnostic Transaction Engine can be used in many different industries:

In the Telecommunications industry as a convergent, real-time and mass rating / charging engine used for both B2C and B2B relationships;

In M2M solutions as an M2M Transaction Gateway;

In Utilities as a Transaction Engine for rating / pricing of events;

In Finance as a Transaction Engine for rating / pricing of financial transactions.

FeaturesIn many cases, event processing is connected with rating, although the component may perform many additional user-defined calculations which are not solely connected with calculating the price for events but may for example correlate events, calculate taxes or make other decisions based on decision trees.

When it comes to its most commonly used feature - rating - it supports multiple pricing models:

From flat-fee to usage-based fees; From market segmentation to custom pricing; Product bundling; Cross- and volume discounting; Rule-based models for custom pricing scenarios.

The main advantages of the Transaction Engine are its performance and flexibility. However, the scope for processing the events in both real-time and batch mode grants numerous additional benefits.

Real-time processing is supported by specialized interfaces, that can be used for real-time interaction with elements producing events. Depending on the industry it can be e.g. Diameter Ro for integration with network elements in the Telecommunications industry, Java for integration with the Financial Transaction Server or the CORBA interface for M2M or Utilities.

Batch processing is dedicated to dealing with huge volumes of events loaded from files. The Transaction Engine manages file loading processes and allows administrators to review data processing as well as to correct events or even re-process particular packages of events. In this mode it is also possible to perform very complex calculations that reuse existing calculations, aggregates or values from external sources.

Comarch applies the best possible technology to the needs of a specific market segment. Consequently Java and relational databases are used as core technologies for most Comarch products. However, when it comes to processing millions of events per day, responding to requests in only a few milliseconds and guaranteeing a genuine, high-availability, reliable technology is essential.

The Transaction Engine technology includes the C/C++ programming languages, file databases for high performance data storage, optimized thread management, shared memory, advanced techniques for mass data writing and simultaneous data reading.

This multi-threaded component works in the UNIX/Linux environment and allows parallel processing of events. The kernel of the Transaction Engine is constructed to allow expansion of the system functionality through standard or customized plug-ins.

BenefitsThe processing chain can be configured with easy-to-use decision trees. The possibility of using rules and the same configuration methodology for real-time and batch processing is unique and gives you more than similar solutions offered on the market.

Additional benefits of the solution include:

Multi-industry – you can use the Transaction Engine in multiple industries and business models: Telecommunications, M2M, Utilities, Financial and more;

Multi-service – the flexibility of configuration enables you to use the engine for transactions related to multiple services offered by institutions or service providers;

• Scalability – lets you process high data volumes with parallel implementation of Transaction Engine instances;

• Flexibility – provides you with rule-based configuration for real-time and batch processing;

• Service continuity – gives you constant upgrades and high availability of services;

• Stability – advanced technologies, development and testing practices leave you confident that the services are stable;

• Error prevention – versioning of the configuration with version acceptance and undo features.