IMS Mediation
Benefits
- Rapid time to market through flexible Diameter capability
- Full online/offline IMS mediation capability in a single platform
- Protects investments and extends existing charging architecture by providing translation between Diameter and legacy charging interfaces.
Communication service providers are now rolling out IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as their next-generation service delivery infrastructure. IMS enables seamless convergence between any access technology, such wireline, wireless, and broadband.
IMS defines charging standards for both offline and online charging based on the Diameter protocol. These interfaces coexist with other charging protocols. Mediation plays a key role to ensure the interaction and end-to-end transactions between systems.
The rollout and implementation of a next-generation BSS infrastructure needs a convergent mediation system to enable the charging of new services delivered over hybrid networks. It enables the consolidation of multiple disparate mediation systems for different network architectures onto a single platform, reducing complexity and cost.
Solution
MediationZone provides online as well as offline mediation capability in a single platform. MediationZone does not provide rating and account balance management functionality, but integrates any such systems with relevant IMS equipment such as: CSCFs, MGCs, application servers, and service delivery platforms. In addition, it also integrates with a wide range of other industry protocols to accommodate for variance in IMS standard adoption rate by equipment manufacturers. It enables cross-element correlation in online to assemble all relevant network information related to the charging scenario.
MediationZone is compliant with IMS charging standards, and can be used to provide support for any Diameter Application through configuration. Specifically, it provides the following components within IMS charging:
- Online Charging Function – OCF (Diameter Ro)
- Charging Data Function – CDF (Diameter Rf)
- Charging Gateway Function – CGF (GTP’)
- Policy Control Rules Function – PCRF (Rx, Gx)
