[Blog News]: PCRF-DPI Matrix Updated

The PCRF-DPI matrix (here) has been updated. The update includes:

• CSG International  PCRF product is now the former Volubill product (see "CSG Acquires Volubill's Assets" - here)
   
• Sandvine has recently re-branded its PCRF product (here) and published more information on the product (see figure below and "Sandvine Will Compete on PCRF Projects" - here)
   
• Removal of several vendors that no longer exist or offer a PCRF product
   
• Correction to broken product links

Sandvine's PCRF

Infonetics, Openet, CSG and Oracle Present PCC Revenue Opportunities

Infonetics Research shared some slides from the "Adding Value to the Network with Integrated Policy and Charging" webinar it held yesterday with CSG International, Openet and Oracle Communications.

The whole show is available here.

• Top applications operators are able to offer using policy management. Join in now or on-demand:
    

• One example of many of how operators are using policy and charging tools to add revenue:
   

• Operators are using Policy and Charging to offer social media, Viber & WhatsApp service passes
   

CSG Acquires Volubill's Assets

CSG International announced that it has "purchased key assets of Volubill [see "Volubill Entered Liquidation" - here] .. Volubill products, which are used by service providers globally to bring to market and monetize the new generation of digital, communication-based services, are a natural extension of CSG’s current market-leading billing and revenue management portfolio".

CSG has a PCC product in its portfolio - Integrated Charging and Policy.

David Heaps [pictured], SVP business strategy, CSG said: “Our clients are always looking for the most effective ways to maximize the value from the data and traffic that travel across their networks, and Volubill was an early innovator in that space .. Volubill’s well-respected brand and broad client installations will bolster CSG’s own expertise in revenue management, service personalization, and customer management. CSG has a deep client-focused culture and a reputation for maintaining long-term relationships. We look forward to serving the Volubill customer base”.

See "CSG International to Acquire Key Volubill Assets" - here.

CSG Updates PCC; Adds Parental controls, Tethering, Bill Shock

CSG Systems International announced "CSG Integrated Charging and Policy (ICP) 2.0 .. Key features include support for the use of parental controls, mobile tethering, managing bill shock, and setting defined usage and spending limits and notifications ..  When policy and charging are combined, solutions for managing flexible customer consumption caps, and enabling choices for monetary top-ups, quality or speed upgrades/downgrades become possible. CSG ICP 2.0 enables these scenarios in an adjunct fashion to the CSP’s existing systems through an interoperable, standards-based framework.

With CSG ICP 2.0, CSPs can realize faster time to market and monetization of new services on advanced networks using new pre-configured use cases that support multi-device plans and tethering plans out of the box"

See "CSG Evolves Integrated Charging and Policy Capabilities" - here.

[Analysys Mason]: Policy Management and Billing/Charging Systems to Converge

 
Article by Justin Van Der Lande (pictured), Senior Analyst, Revenue Management research programme, Analysys Mason concludes that "Policy management solutions were originally deployed to provide a protection function for networks. Increasingly, these solutions are being used in different ways to create and support new service offerings for service providers".

"The move by Amdocs to purchase Bridgewater Systems in 2011 was a clear reaction to this trend [tiered pricing], and is supported by other strong BSS vendors such as Comverse, Orga Systems, Netcracker (Convergys), CSGi and Oracle. These vendors are also joined by network equipment providers, such as Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent and Huawei, which are able to support solutions for both network- and billing-based deployments. Specialist vendors also still provide some standalone policy management solutions to the market".

The chart below "..depicts the three significant areas that have evolved to create policy management. In a recent survey carried out by Analysys Mason, the industry is expecting that over 50% of the use of policy management will be in conjunction with charging solutions. This percentage is expected to increase over time as new broadband networks come to market and costs of implementation must be recovered through better data charging".

See "Will policy management become just a function of billing systems?"  - in Analysys Mason's "TELECOMS PERSPECTIVES" - here.

[Infonetics]: Convergent Charging Market to Reach $3.2B by 2015

    

Infonetics Research says that "The global convergent charging market, including software and services, is on track to surge 42% in 2011 over 2010 to $1.26 billion .. forecasts the convergent charging market to grow to $3.2 billion by 2015 .. Top 5 convergent charging vendors by 2010 global revenue: Telcordia [acquired by Ericsson], Comverse, Huawei, Ericsson, Amdocs".

Shira Levine, directing analyst for next gen OSS and policy at Infonetics Research, adds that "Smaller software suppliers such as Comptel, Volubill, and Orga Systems have gained traction in emerging markets with their integrated solutions that include charging policy and subscriber management functionality"

Nevertheless, Infonetics remain consistent with its previous statements on the need for integrated control-plane solutions (for example for the policy management market - here) - "However, these vendors face intensified competition from larger IT and billing players like HP, SAP, Oracle, CSG, Amdocs, and Convergys that are taking a more converged approach to charging by incorporating adjacent functionality".

See "Convergent charging passes the billion-dollar mark in 2011, up 42%" - here.