Telecoms Network Management, Services and Billing. T Based on Kirsi Valtari's slides

Transcription

1 Telecoms Network Management, Services and Billing T Based on Kirsi Valtari's slides

2 Background Telecoms networks are built of systems from different vendors Pay-back time is often measured in decades Traditionally each vendor had their own management interface When telcos were monopolies, managing different vendors' equipment by hand was no problem, as cost efficiency was not an issue and the network was relatively simple With liberalization, IN, new services, cellular efficiency became an important requirement A common management standard was needed Telecoms Network Management (TMN) standard development started 1985, first version 1988

3 What is Management Telco network has User (data) plane Signaling plane Management plane All of these can be in the same physical network, but are logically separate Management functions are commonly called OAM&P, "Operation, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning" Provisioning means customer related configuration Network management is a 24/7 operation for network operators

4 FCAPS Model Fault Management Detect, isolate, repair abnormal network behavior Configuration Management Physical and logical network configuration Accounting Collect and analyze information about resource usage Performance Management Collect and analyze throughput and statistical info Security Management Control access to resources through authentication and authorization policies

5 TMN Idea and Scope OSF X OSF F WSF g Q3 MF Qx Qx TMN QAF m NEF TMN NE

6 TMN Concepts Operations System Function (OSF) The supervisory system Work Station Function (WSF) Provides the presentation interface Mediator Function (MF) Allows storage, adaptation, filtering, thresholding or condensing data from subtending equipment Data Communication Function (DCF) The network which connects other functions Network Element Function (NEF) The managed entity Q-adaptor Function (QAF) Allows connection of non-tmn systems to TMN Logical layered architecture (LLA)

7 TMN Reference Points Q3 or q3, CMISE/CMIP Common Management Information Service Element Common Management Information Protocol Qx or qx, usually CMISE/CMIP with shortened OSI stack X or x, CMISE/CMIP with security additions, FTAM, X.500 File Transfer Access and Management X.500 is a directory service F or f, interface to WSF m, proprietary management interface to a network element g, interface to WSF, a user interface outside TMN

8 Logical Layered Architecture OSF OSF OSF Business Management Layer Service Management Layer Network Management Layer NEF OSF Element Management Layer Network Element Layer

9 TMN-LLA Business Management Layer Vaguely defined, business strategic goal setting Service Management Layer QoS management, customer configuration, accounting etc. Network Management Layer Routing and dedicated network paths, link utilization monitoring, optimizing etc. Element Management Layer Collects information from individual network elements and sets the configuration in NEs Network Element Layer Contains the actual network elements (switches, SS7 components etc.)

10 TMN Protocols TMN standard defines usage of CMISE/CMIP Common Management Information Service Element Common Management Information Protocol Defined as the Q3 interface Defined in the X.700-series standards X.800 series standards will define TMN on CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture TMN technology is based on OSI, concepts are however management related The term "interface" is used often in TMN to allow abstraction, functionalities may be located in a single host computer system

11 TMN in Practice Concepts are currently in use Only a few network equipment manufacturers are actually implementing CMISE/CIMP E.g. latest Nokia GSM networks Much of current infrastructure relies on SNMP or proprietary protocols Simple Network Management Protocol, uses UDP/IP HP Open View is often used to implement the OSF and WSF functionality Implements the idea of unified, advanced network management system Supports SNMP, CMIP and other protocols

12 TMN with CMISE/CMIP Criticism TMN is often called too big and complex OSI protocols are powerful and complex Implementing is expensive, due to both work amount and skill requirements TMN is designed to unify a large amount of things Agent requirements on older hardware are a performance issue Remember the long lifetime of telco equipment

13 Services

14 Examples of Types of Services Bearer services ISDN Circuit switched voice, data, fax Packet data GSM Telephony, data, emergency calls ISDN Terminal services Telephony G4 telefax GSM subscriber services Short Message Service, voice mail Supplementary services Calling line identification presentation (ISDN CLIP) Call forwarding Call waiting

15 UMTS Forum Service Classes Information and content (nonvoice) Content connectivity (internet) mobile Internet access mobile intranet access Mobility customized infotainment Multimedia Messaging Service location based services Rich voice and simple voice access focused approach portal focused approach mobile specialized services

16 Who Provides Services Services are provided by the operator Some services are provided by the network operator, some by the service operator The network operator usually provides the basic services (bearer service and some supplementary services) What the service operator provides is up to the two parties to decide Currently many service operators concentrate on customer management and all services are provided by the network operator In the future the network operator might have to accommodate service operators hardware or software in its network Security issues

17 Billing

18 Billing Basics Billing is a very important feature of the modern telecommunications networks Initially paper tickets written by operators Low cost work power made this feasible Then a counter for each device (telephone line) Active connections received pulses, which increased the counter Value added billing (long distance calls) was generated by increasing the pulse frequency Currently billing is entirely computerized In modern networks The user is charged per minute/second, unmetered or prepaid Usage data is collected in Call Detail Records (CDR) Large files or databases containing CDRs are processed to produce a bill

19 Telecom Billing System Overview etc WAP GW SMSC GPRS CDRs Subscriber management Mediation Billing process MSC gw MSC Printing Delivery IN Roaming Operative systems

20 The Billing Process Services, switches, SMSCs and other NEs produce Session, usage & transaction data: CDRs, tickets, events, other logs Mediation functionalities Aggregate, correlate, filter and normalize the tickets, producing Records of who, when, what, (where, why) Rating function Prices the records, producing Priced usage records Billing function Creates the invoices taking into account: Accounting, payments, collections, tax, discounts Presentation Formatting, printing and delivery of the bill

21 Call Detail Records The CDR can contain Called / Received / Forwarded Type of basic (GSM) service: speech, data, fax, sms Type of supplementary service IN triggering Event time and date Event duration Charging principle (IMSI, MSISDN) B subscriber, C subscriber Pre-billing information

22 IPDR Records Internet Protocol Detail Records A new flexible record format XML-based CDR is binary Adds additional fields for recording data volumes, number of packets, URL, content type etc.

23 Mediation Collects or receives the information from the various network elements CDRs or raw data Aggregates the records For batch processing Normalizes the records Information can be lacking, must be collated etc. Filters unmeaningful records Operator's own rules Produces statistics

24 Rest of the Billing Process Rating Price tags are put on unified usage records Price is based on tariff tables A function of time, duration, local/long distance etc. Billing Discounts (family, volume) Usage matched with customer accounts Connection to Customer Care Software (CRM) Tax Invoicing Formatting the actual bill Customers can have several subscriptions Printing and delivery

25 Hot Billing Also called real time billing Needed for spending limits and pre-paid accounts In theory customer's account is monitored in real time and the service is shut off when the limit is reached In practice this is impossible Real time is expensive (processing requirements) Simultaneous services available (voice, SMS, GPRS) Real time billing requires specialized software and tight systems integration across the services

26 Billing Schemes Monthly flat rate fee (ADSL, GPRS, local calls) Per minute (speech, circuit data, video conferencing) Per megabyte (GPRS, WLAN) Per message (SMS, ) Per view (video on demand) Per transaction (music downloads) Per click (click through advertising (billing can be negative, too)) Per page (fax) Per $ (commission) Per bullet (interactive games) Or per combinations of the above Or modified by daytime, volume etc.

27 An Estimate on CDR Volumes by Jean-Claude Sotto GSM 2 CDRs / call 3 calls / subscriber / day ~6 CDRs / subscriber / day GPRS 15 CDRs / PDP context (WAP + GGSN + SGSN) 3 contexts / subscriber / day ~45 CDRs / subscriber / day UMTS GPRS + Services + QoS -> CDRs 6 contexts / subscriber / day ~130 CDRs / subscriber / day

28 Changing Billing Models More actors Network operator Service (virtual network) operator Content service provider Content provider New billing models Sponsoring Cost sharing Service provisioning Commission

29 Payment Brokering Who should manage the billing More services and actors The systems is going to be used for purchasing hard goods instead of just services The operator does not want to become a financial institution (regulation) A broker (small or large financial institution) could manage the billing service post-paid billing prepayment (wallet) customer and service identification micro (average <1 ) or macro (average >10 ) payments

30 Summary of Billing Billing is an important telco process It requires heavy duty processing Many operators have multiple billing systems for historical reasons Fixed line telephony, mobile telephony, Internet services Also there is a psychological limit to what the customer is willing to accept as a "communications bill"