Mobile operators can offer subscribers enhanced Over-the-Top (OTT) applications, advanced shared data plans and location-based LTE services with the newest version of Tekelec’sPolicy Server (PCRF), a critical component of the New Diameter Network.

The new Policy Server release, available in June 2012, gives service providers the ability to introduce:

• Shared data plans. Simplify data plans for groups of users by offering shared data plans that pool usage quotas across multiple subscribers and devices during the billing cycle. Service providers can also define multiple thresholds for managing subscribers’ speeds, access and notifications.
• LTE service options in available service areas. Authorize location-based services such as higher service tiers, casual usage plans or trial offers by detecting when subscribers enter and move within LTE coverage areas.
• Enhanced over-the-top applications. Add value to OTT applications by offering unique quality-of-service rules, including location-based service enhancements, and launching consumer-friendly plans based on popular applications. The latest Diameter interfaces such as Sd for Deep Packet Inspection and Content Optimization solutions deliver faster time-to-market for new services and improved interoperability.
• More flexible offers. A richer set of tools in Tekelec’s sophisticated rules engine gives service providers the ability to add exceptions and exclusions to existing policies, including service tier, device and time.
• Table-driven policies to accelerate time-to-market. Pre-defined policy tables to segment subscribers by service tier, device, application usage and other parameters, providing an efficient mechanism to modify policy rules to launch and evolve new services.

The Tekelec Policy Server resides on the company’s unique EAGLE XG middleware, the engine of the New Diameter Network that provides subscriber database scalability, high message processing rates and superior reliability. The Policy Server is deployed in 55 service provider networks, including 42 Tier 1s, in 33 countries.

Tekelec is a Bronze sponsor and speaker at this year’s LTE Latin America conference, held April 17-18 at the Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Tekelec will participate in two sessions:

• “Managing Data Traffic and Monetizing the LTE Network: The Importance of Diameter Signaling and Policy Control”
  • Houck Reed, vice president, product management and operations, will discuss the New Diameter Network, the foundation for a successful mobile data business on April 17th at 4:55 p.m. The New Diameter Network is comprised of control elements – policy servers, charging systems, subscriber databases, gateways, and session and mobility management equipment – that rely on the Diameter protocol to exchange network, subscriber, policy, and charging information.
• “OTT and Operators Partnership and Cooperation Potential for the Latin American Market”
  • Travis Russell, technologist, strategic marketing, will speak on a panel about how over-the-top providers such as Facebook and Netflix and mobile operators can collaborate for future mobile data revenue opportunities. His panel takes place April 17 at 2:40 p.m.

Last time, we discussed why reliability is crucial to building out the New Diameter Network. Today we’ll look at why it is important to have a “software-based approach” when building out the network.

Change is the new norm in the fast-paced, volatile mobile data market. The days of inflexible software and proprietary hardware are gone. Creating an elastic Diameter network requires a new software-based approach that’s architected for scalability and adaptability, using cutting-edge middleware and standard servers.

Taking a software-based approach to network design provides substantial benefits over legacy, proprietary models. Databases, message processing, OAM&P, and policy applications can be configured individually or in logical combinations on standard server blades or rackmounted servers in a central office or data center. Each application scales independently, allowing the Diameter network to grow incrementally to support increasing subscriber and traffic growth with a pay-as-you-go model. Service providers can reshape hardware with only software-level changes to create new features, applications, use cases, or technology. Applications share subscriber, network and device data to enhance performance, policy control and subscriber quality of experience. And, the total cost of ownership is lower because having a common platform simplifies interoperability testing, maintenance and support.

For more information about Diameter protocol, check out the Diameter Learning Center.

This article is part of the series Architecting the New Diameter Network. Next time, we’ll examine the need for a security and flexibility you build your robust Diameter network.