Introduction to Telecom Mediation
What is Mediation?
n The Mediation System provide a reliable way
to collect usage information from the network, distributes the data to billing
system, with no missing data and thus support the management of Call Data.
n Mediation involves data transfer between
various systems with or without modification of data starting Network elements
to OSS/BSS systems
n Mediation system "mediate" between
a varieties of other systems.
n The upstream systems (those providing data to
the mediation platform) are network elements, such as telephone switches, and
the downstream systems (those receiving data from the mediation platform)
perform accounting, auditing, archiving, or bill-generation functions.
n The mediation system collects, collates and
prepares data for consumption by the downstream systems, which often accept data
only in a limited set of formats.
n A billing mediation platform is a system used
to convert data types of a certain type to other data types, usually for
billing purposes;
n Provides an easy-to-manage, single point of
interface to the network.
n Provide link between the network and the IT
applications (Billing System, Fraud Management System, Data Warehousing System,
etc).
Why Mediation is required?
n Billing is a complex process, starting from
the network elements, which generate all the usage data. It primarily involves
data collection, format adaptation, rating and invoicing.
n In today’s networks there are multiple sources
for charging records.
n Each billable usage of the network (or
service platform) has to be recorded and charged.
n These records, which are produced by the
network elements, are generally known as Call Data Records (CDR) in traditional
voice networks (fixed or mobile), Usage Data Records (UDR), or Event Data
Records (EDR), IPDR in case of broadband usage, and more generally “xDR” in new
networks.
n There is a need to collect charging
information from many different network elements in order to provide
subscribers with a single bill for all the services they use.
Why Mediation is Important?
n The concept of “one bill for all services”,
which is being demanded by subscribers, is not be easy to achieve because not
all the services are provided by the access provider. The intelligence is
needed to construct a common bill from information provided by several
independent platforms will require high flexibility, in terms of collecting any
type of data, handling various protocols, storing partial information while
waiting for the missing parts before performing a correlation, etc.
n It is important to include mediation
facilities in networks to seamlessly provide adaptation for new and changing
sources of information, and as a 'pre-processing' layer to minimize the impact
on the billing system of adding new services.
What does Mediation System do?
n Network data usage collection (CDR, IPDR,)
n Data Collection on switches, VAS platforms,
gateways, Radius
n Data validation and filtering out of non
billing-relevant CDRs
n Collating
n Correlation of different input sources CDRs
n Aggregation of partial CDRs related to the
same call
n Format change and CDRs normalization
n Business transformation of data
n Reformatting and enhancement
n Splitting, sorting and distribution to
various OSS or
BSS Applications
Mediation System: Architecture
n Collector
It
is responsible to collect all types of usage data (Voice, Data, SMS, Content,
Video etc.) from all kinds of upstream systems like TDM Switches, NGN Switches,
and Gateways etc. It has multiple nodes and each node can be configured with
different types of usage data source.
n Processor
It processes data according to the rules
defined by the users. Processor performs three tasks, filters data properly
through customized filters, remove any type of duplication from the data and
modify it as per the requirements.
n Distributor
It supplies the needed information to the
downstream systems. It distributes usage data to different sources like text
files, Excel files, CSV file, Binary file, RDBMS etc.
Challenges
n
The
challenge of billing mediation is not as simple as it seems. There is a need
for protocol handling, format adaptation and complex processing. This class of
mainly software-based solutions has to deal with both network equipment
(telecom world) and computers (information systems), adding some complexity. In
addition, scalability and the ability to cope with the storage and processing
of several hundred million CDRs every day are essential for today’s biggest
operators.
