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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS |
Ensuring QoE for your 3G Subscriber
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Role of AAA in WiMAX The reference architecture, service flexibility and mobility supported by WIMAX demands a robust AAA server.
Read More>
Moving to Next Generation Networks
Read More>
Role of CSN and challenges addressed n WiMAX 802.16e Ecosystem
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Moving to Next Generation Networks
| After years of slow and incremental change, the communications world has seen explosive and revolutionary changes over the past decade. The resulting paradigm shifts have led to the emergence of new standards, services, service providers, and consequently, new infrastructure. The result is a fragmented communications infrastructure consisting of disparate networks each network provides a set of services that are unique to it and cannot be used over another network. |
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| The result is that the consumer subscribes for each service separately, has to deal with multiple service providers and needs several pieces of equipment to make it all work. |
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| At the service providers’ end, the continuously evolving communications domain means investing in new infrastructure with each new change; and that sometimes takes too long, giving first/early movers a major advantage. The rapid change also had led to a proliferation of service providers resulting in stagnating/falling share of the customer. More ominously, it also means obsolescence and possible extinction. |
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| The New Paradigm |
| The need of the hour is a network that can deliver an array of services—existing and emerging—without the need for a major overhaul each time there is an innovation. The evolving Next Generation Networks (NGNs) offer just this. |
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| NGN uses a common network infrastructure to deliver an array of information and services (voice, video, data etc.) by completely separating the network and service layers. Built around the Internet Protocol and the use of intelligent Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), NGN enables users to leverage the power of a common network to access a variety of services. |
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| Thus, network carriers provide a reliable, high-bandwidth transport infrastructure while solution providers’ will supply the applications that will enable CPEs to access a range of services. |
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| Service Providers and NGN |
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| Traditional service providers must adapt to NGN to survive. So far they have been operating with a captive customer base; one to whom they provide both the access to the infrastructure and the service. Thus, the customer’s choice is limited by the service offered by the provider. |
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| As the services on offer increase, customers are looking to get the most value for money and will opt for the service provider who gives them the best offer. NGN has the potential to offer the customer all he is seeking. Also, as a single source of computing and communication services, NGN should be able to deliver much lower costs by bundling together services. |
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| How can a service provider deliver a variety of services? By partnering with others. The service provider can act as an intermediary by concentrating on providing the NGN infrastructure including OSS/BSS while “buying” solutions from specialist solution providers and “supplying” them, as appropriate customer-required bundles. |
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| Legacy Vs NGN Systems |
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| The legacy systems take a stove piped approach which doesn’t allow multiple services on a single platform; each service operates in an isolated environment and are highly inflexible in incorporating and managing different services. |
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| The legacy billing systems don’t allow the service provider to offer innovative value added services on the fly. The lack of unified architecture for customers, services and revenue hamper the ability to quickly launch and capture revenue from new services. The solution is moving to a Convergent NGN platform for deploying billing systems that are capable of supporting multiple services, technologies, geographies, and customer types at the same time helps reduce the Service Provider’s Capex and Opex. |
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| New Paradigm, New Management Demands |
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| Legacy systems tie-in the customer to a common infrastructure and service provider. As a result, OSS/BSS are controlled by the service provider. However, NGN envisages a customer accesses services from different providers over a common network. Moreover, NGN is to enable the speedy deployment of new services over the existing infrastructure. |
This shift in paradigm requires systems that: |
- Support and enable swift and cost-effective deployment of a wide array of end-user applications and services.
- Allow management of a broad range of services from diverse suppliers.
- Allow for complex provisioning requirements of customers.
- Enable micro-marketing to meet individual customer requirements.
- Provide a deeper understanding of customer preferences.
- Ensure assured SLAs are met.
- Enable customer self-service.
- Are scalable and repeatable.
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| In addition, given the number of players and variety of services involved in the NGN, the system must determine who is paid what, by whom, how much and when. This means that inter-operator agreements are the take primacy in ensuring the system works. |
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| New Paradigm, Needs a New Billing System |
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| A right billing application deployed to support acquisition, retention and growth of customers make an OSS/BSS system extremely important to avoid any bottleneck in deployment and utilization of these new services. |
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| An NGN compliant OSS/BSS solution gives operators a unified platform that can seamlessly scale to serve any number of customers and services. Next generation integrated OSS/BSS solution helps providers deploy services in a cost-efficient way enhancing their profitability, reducing customer churn and accelerating the recovery of their network investments. |
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| CRESTEL’S Next Generation billing system empowers providers adopt to the NGN platform capable offering multiple services on a convergent platform. CRESTEL Convergent billing system is capable of supporting multiple services, technologies, geographies, and customer types. A powerful solution that gives a unified platform that can seamlessly scale to serve any number of customers and services. An efficient Triple play integrated solution helps deploy services in a cost-efficient way enhancing the profitability, reducing customer churn and accelerates ROI. |
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| Conclusion |
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| While Next generation networks are here to stay and are the future in the telecommunications industry, Service providers need to carefully plan the migration from their legacy systems. Following are the few points to be taken care of when implementing an NGN OSS/BSS systems |
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- The billing deployment platform must be capable of meeting both increasing and fluctuating performance demands across online and offline.
- The infrastructure must result in improved utilization of the system to control cost associated with the delivery of new services.
- OSS / BSS applications must follow open standards and integrate with solutions like softswitches that enable migration towards NGN.
- Automation and process establishment that can smoothen the provider’s internal processes reduce manual tasks and revenue leakage have their role to play in the mobile arena.
- OSS/BSS with real time capabilities to enable customers to self manage and self provision their services.
- Compliance to standards
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| About Elitecore Technologies |
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| Elitecore Technologies Limited is the global provider of CRESTEL Convergent Billing Solution. CRESTEL Billing System is an innovative, modular billing solution that enables service providers to charge, bill, and manage a wide range of services via multiple networks, payment models, pricing plans, and value chains with distinct offerings for Tier-1 and Tier-3 service providers. CRESTEL’s open integrated architecture can interface with other systems and applications, enables service providers to introduce new services quickly, providing high business value and low total cost of ownership |
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CRESTEL-Billing and
Revenue Management |
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