Showing posts with label Diameter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diameter. Show all posts

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Xura Launches a Signaling Security Solution


Xura (Comverse/Acision) announced the ".. availability of its Signaling Fraud Management System, built to protect mobile operators’ signaling networks from sophisticated exploits and security threats .. With a tightly integrated firewall and analytical module, Xura’s Signaling Fraud Management System provides mobile operators with advanced, real-time detection of malicious traffic alongside smart prevention mechanisms.
  • Xura Signaling Fraud Management features an easy to control graphical user management interface that provides real-time views of detected security threats, blocked or suspicious activity, top attack targets and raises alarms in real-time for detected risks.
     
  • In addition, the system has a world-class analytics engine that provides high performance data collection and real-time streaming analysis of incoming traffic. This advanced detection means operators can filter malicious messages and report on detected, blocked traffic.
     
  • The solution also helps discover new fraudulent patterns, including attack source, types of attacks and attack targets. A flexible query module enables security teams to explore details of the captured traffic, to simplify and automate investigation efforts for the detected outbreaks. Lastly, native virtualization of the solution supports operators with hardware independence and plays a part in any ongoing NFV strategy. 



See "Xura announces availability of its Signaling Fraud Management System - detecting and preventing fraud on mobile operator’s core networks" - here.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Oracle's Diameter Signaling Calculator


Oracle has a tool for service providers, enabling them to "understand how to dimension their networks based on the number of subscribers they have to support, and the applications and services to be supported. This unique tool is built from years of modeling in live networks, and from signaling experts that understand the traffic flows introduced in Diameter networks when new services are implemented".

[Related post - "Diametriq Presents: LTE Diameter Traffic Calculator" - here]

"This tool is available online, and will provide some guidance to help engineers and planners understand the impacts of services at a high level
".

The following chart has been prepared by the tool for a network that starts with 200,000 LTE subscribers in year 1, through 400,000, 1M, 2M, 4M subscribers in the following years upto 5M in 6th year.

This imaginary network is located in Western Europe, and has 4% of inbound and 5% of outbound roamers.



See "Plan for Future Growth of LTE Diameter Signaling" - here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Spirent Launches a Diameter Signaling Testing Tool


Spirent Communications introduced "..Spirent Landslide Diameter, a comprehensive solution that tests signaling protocols at scale so carriers can ensure efficient and optimized Diameter services.

.. Landslide Diameter lets carriers and their vendors emulate specific Diameter applications to test specific nodes or test the network from end-to-end to ensure that the management and monetization functions operate at extreme scale. 

The test system can be used to simulate real-world traffic scenarios or call models at scale so carriers can see what happens on a node-by-node basis. The call models can be adapted to test the impact new services and devices will have on the control network. These tests remove the guesswork out of predicting signaling traffic loads so they can adequately and effectively architect their networks.

Landslide Diameter simulates real-world control traffic scenarios at scale and emulates the interfaces and adjacent nodes required to test all the key AAA nodes including: HSS, PCRF, DRA/DSC and AAA. The solution provides the ability to test the Diameter network from end-to-end or isolate a single node". 

See "Spirent Enables Prediction and Prevention of Signaling Storm Outages with Comprehensive Diameter Testing" - here.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

DigitalRoute Enhances MediationZone


DigitalRoute announced the release of its "..MediationZone 7.0 software, which delivers an easy-to-integrate, high-performing, and functionally advanced platform that gives CSPs unrivalled control over their usage and performance data in a flexible, cost-effective and robust manner 

Key aspects of the updated solution include:
  • Significant improvements to data availability achieved via advances in Persistent Real-Time Aggregation Storage, Configuration Spaces, and protection of BSS systems through Extended Supervision of real-time protocols’ behavior and load [see chart].
     
  • Support for the newest streaming data formats as well as accommodating additional legacy interfaces to help Data Centers win the battle against ageing legacy IT systems.
     
  • Ease-of-use Enhancements that enable faster times to market and improve the quality of the user experience, including direct integration with Hadoop distributions by Cloudera and HortonWorks for easy Big Data enablement.
     
  • The availability of important new pre-configured solutions including Service Control, which enables uses cases like sponsored data, bifurcated billing, and lean BSS.



With the release of version 7.0 DigitalRoute continues to strengthen its’ offering towards the OEM channel, cementing its position as the first choice mediation provider for enabling value added applications".

See "DigitalRoute releases MediationZone 7.0" - here.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Oracle: Diameter Signaling Traffic Grows Twice Faster than Mobile Data Traffic


A recent research by Oracle (Tekelec) finds that "Long-term evolution (LTE) Diameter signaling traffic will grow at more than twice the rate of mobile data traffic through 2017, according to the second annual Oracle Communications LTE Diameter Signaling Index. The Index predicts that worldwide LTE Diameter signaling traffic will increase at a 140 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from 1.2 million messages per second (MPS) in 2012 to nearly 99 million MPS by 2017". 

Tekelec's previous report predicted even higher CAGR - see "Tekelec Diameter Index Shows 252% CAGR Signaling Growth (2011-2016)" - here].




Source: Oracle Communications LTE Diameter Signaling Index: 
Forecast Report and Analysis 2012-2017


".. policy MPS are expected to more than triple in each of 2013 and 2014 compared with the previous year. By 2017, policy will account for 62 percent of signaling volumes .. The Index predicts that North America will be the largest contributor to Diameter signaling traffic each year in the forecast period. In 2017, the region is expected to reach nearly 43 million MPS".
See "LTE Diameter Signaling Traffic to Grow More than Twice as Fast as Mobile Data Traffic" - here.

Friday, June 28, 2013

BroadForward Helps Convergence w/RADIUS to Diameter Interworking


BroadForward (see "BroadForward CEO: 'We have a very ambitious 5 year growth plan'" - here) announced that the "..latest release of the BFX Interface Gateway introduces further service logic enhancements for advanced RADIUS to Diameter Interworking scenarios. Users of BFX get sample configuration templates to quickly connect RADIUS based Fixed network elements such as Edge Gateways and Wi-Fi Packet Gateways with Diameter based Mobile network elements such as PCRF, OCS, optionally through a DRA. 

The ability to connect RADIUS and Diameter network elements allows service providers to enable service continuity scenarios with converged policy control and integrated data bundles. Examples of such converged services are: common charging and subscriber policies across access networks, automatic access to Wi-Fi offload, seamless roaming scenarios between access providers including authentication and accounting of the subscriber, portable security and service assurance amongst others".

See "BroadForward enables advanced RADIUS -Diameter interworking for Fixed-Mobile Convergence" - here.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Elitecore New Platform Integrates Session Management Products


Elitecore Technologies announced "EliteCSM, a core session management platform for next-generation networks with preintegrated products including AAA, Map Gateway, PCRF, Diameter Signaling and Charging Gateway. The platform serves as a one-stop solution to increase revenues from existing and emerging services without having to go for a major overhaul each time there is an innovation thus, helping them adapt quickly to unpredictable changes in business environment"

EliteCSM Architecture


By using a common Diameter and RADIUS stack across all products which enable easy integration processes for seamless connectivity. EliteCSM drastically reduces development costs and project timelines . It also solves complex integration issues with multi-vendor network elements like GGSN, PGW, HSS, PCRF and OCS vendors, allowing operators to reuse their network for future services with negligible customization"
.

See "Elitecore brings Core Session Management platform for CSP’s Next-Generation Services" - here.

Monday, March 4, 2013

BroadForward Adds Support for MAP-Diameter Interworking gateway


BroadForward announced they have extended the "BFX interface gateway with support for the Interworking Function (IWF) between MAP-based Gr, Gf interfaces and Diameter-based S6a, S6d, S13, S13a interfaces".

See background - "BroadForward CEO: 'We have a very ambitious 5 year growth plan'" - here.

Steven van Zanen (pictured), Head of Product Management and Marketing, said: “The availability of a complete MAP-Diameter Interworking function in BFX provides operators and vendors with an essential capability for many LTE and Wi-Fi services. In combination with the advanced interworking functions and wide range of supported protocols, BFX offers a future-proof, multi-purpose solution. Moreover, it offers a very cost-effective approach to solve integration issues. The extensive configuration options and built-in flexibility enable users to quickly adjust and customize interfaces to specific network environments, new use cases and future system updates.”

See "BroadForward delivers advanced MAP Diameter Interworking gateway" - here.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Diameter - New RFC but More Work Ahead!

 
Xavier Milà (pictured) and Victor Pascual, Acme Packet, provide more information on the "a new version of Diameter, RFC 6733 (this was previously known as RFC 3588bis)".

"The main improvements in this new version include:
  • Improved transport efficiency and clarifications of security mechanisms, adopting TLS/TCP and DTLS/SCTP as primary security mechanisms and IPsec as a secondary alternative
  • Correlation of application-Id fields, which are necessary due to the proliferation of applications based on Diameter
  • Clarifications and enhancements regarding routing and agent discovery
     
  • Advanced redirect capabilities to reflect modern requirements for flexibility to route based on multiple parameters including user, realm, application, etc. 
Beyond this, the new specification contains a number of clarifications related to the state machine, extensibility guidelines, caching, deprecation of the end-to-end security framework and other miscellaneous fixes .. However, the Diameter protocol standardization has not concluded with RFC 6733. There are a number of RFCs in development or published related to security, prioritization, dynamic capabilities exchange, NAT, application design guidelines and routing".

See also "F5 Adds RFC 6733 Support to the Diameter Router; Better Security" - here.


See "A New Spin on the Diameter Protocol: RFC 6733" - here.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Diametriq Presents: LTE Diameter Traffic Calculator

     
Diametriq announced ".. the first web-based interactive tool that automatically calculates the Diameter signaling load based on a variety of input variables such as the number of LTE devices and how subscribers use them. The Diameter Traffic Calculator(tm) generates reports that include graphical presentations and signaling load by network element" (see also "Tekelec Diameter Index Shows 252% CAGR Signaling Growth (2011-2016)" - here.

" .. The Diameter Traffic Calculator uses eight variables such as the number of LTE devices, and their projected yearly growth, number of simultaneous applications and expected dormancy of applications to estimate the diameter traffic in a specific network. It also factors in the percentage of postpaid subscribers and projected VoLTE users. The results are extrapolated over a 5 years period based on specified growth rates. In addition to reporting total Diameter messages per year, the tool also projects Diameter messages by network element: HSS, PCRF and OCS".
  
The screen shot below shows the calculator's projection, based on the defaults prepared by Diametriq (shown on the left side bar).


See "Diametriq Unveils Interactive LTE Diameter Traffic Calculator" - here and the calculator page - here.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Tekelec Diameter Index Shows 252% CAGR Signaling Growth (2011-2016)


Tekelec created its own "VNI" index - the "Tekelec LTE Diameter Signaling Index" measuring Diameter Messages per Second.
According to the index "Diameter signaling traffic growth will more than triple mobile data traffic growth through 2016. Tekelec forecasts Diameter Messages per Second (MPS) to increase to 47 million Diameter MPS by 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 252% between 2011 and 2016".


"Policy has the largest impact on total Diameter signaling traffic with nearly 24 million MPS crossing LTE networks by 2016 in support of policy use cases. This represents a CAGR of 269 percent over the 2011-2016 period. Sophisticated data plans, personalized services, and over-the-top (OTT) and advertising models will introduce new complexity policy use cases, driving increased Diameter signaling traffic"

"The growth in Diameter signaling traffic directly correlates with innovative LTE services and new business models, such as:
  • Rate plans based on usage, quality of service, application and time of day
  • Mobile cloud services
  • OTT application services such as video and social networking
  • Machine-to-Machine (M2M) services
  • Mobile payment and advertising services"


See "LTE Diameter signaling traffic to grow more than three times faster than mobile data traffic over five years, Tekelec forecasts" - here.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

OpenDPS - Open Source DIAMETER Provisioning System


The OpenDPS blog announced the release of a "a free, open source (GPL) web-based DIAMETER provisioning system. Provisioning, in this context, is the process of equipping related tools and products with necessary information to support DIAMETER protocol and required DIAMETER applications. The information, which describes protocol such as data types and message structures (protocol dictionary), is often extracted from the relevant DIAMETER standards (RFC) and technical specifications (TS)".

OpenDPS GUI

See "About OpenDPS" - here.

Friday, August 31, 2012

PCC (w/Device Awareness) Win for Comptel


Comptel announced that a "..leading Asian mobile operator has deployed a customised version of Comptel Control and Charge. Leveraging the product for its Online Charging Function (OCF) capabilities, the operator wanted to provide low-cost, device-specific SIM bundles that would allow it to engage a different subscriber segment, as well as create upsell opportunities among existing customers who would pay extra to get separate SIMs for their tablets"

"Comptel’s bespoke device detection solution enables the mobile operator to not only sell data plans at a reduced price to satisfy customers, but also limit subscribers’ usage to specific tablets, so that SIM cards will not be misused and affect its unlimited data plans. The mobile operator has implemented a tiered alert system to notify customers when it finds that the SIM cards have been used on unauthorised devices like 3G modem dongles, and discontinue their data service following a third warning .. 
Comptel successfully delivered the project, which involved OCF implementation and DIAMETER Gy integration, on time in less than 12 weeks and to the operator’s specifications".

Ulla Koivukoski [picutred], SVP Marketing and Communications, provided me with some more details on the solution:

"This solution is based on Comptel EventLink and Comptel Control and Charge, but part of the implementation has been tailored based on the customer specific requirements. It was using IMEI (no DPI), but Gy Diameter interface with GGSN and using lookups to map to devices and subscriber subscription In SPR to understand whom and when to apply this control". 

Related post - "Why Do Mobile Carriers Need Device Awareness?" - here.

See "Asian Mobile Operator Expands Partnership with Comptel to Develop Bespoke Device Detection Solution" - here.

Friday, August 3, 2012

BroadForward Provides Diameter Performance Test Results


BroadForward (here) joins the recent trend of publishing policy management performance data, following similar announcements by Openet, Tango, BroadHop, Amdocs (during Bridgewater days) and Tekelec.
 
The vendor of interfacing software announced that it has ".. completed benchmark tests showing the BFX Broadband Policy Gateway capable of handling over 100,000 Diameter messages per second on a single 1U server".

Raymond van der Laan (pictured), Head of Engineering of BroadForward, said: “Interface gateways such as BFX handle multiple connections on different interfaces in the operator’s network. With high performance and low latency being crucial attributes, only very lean and efficient middleware layers are therefore found suitable for modern broadband systems and networks .. We have set a new Diameter performance benchmark. At a CPU utilization of 80%, BFX is capable of handling over 100,000 Diameter messages per second, on a single 1U server (see chart below)".



See "BroadForward sets new Diameter performance benchmark for the BFX Broadband Policy Gateway" - here.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Testing S/W Announcements: GL Diameter Protocol Emulator

  
GL Communications announced the release of its "latest product MAPS™ Diameter Protocol Emulator software – Scripted LTE Diameter S6a, S6d, Cx, Dx, Gx, and Rx Interfaces Emulation".

Other products in this market - Developing Solutions (here) and Mobile Metrics (here).

Mr. Karthik Ramalingam, Manager of Product Development, said, “The Diameter protocol is intended to provide a framework for Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) .. GL’s general-purpose platform for emulation of protocols is Message Automation & Protocol Simulation (MAPS™). Recently Diameter protocol for has been added to its wide range of emulation support. The MAPS™ Diameter gives the users the unlimited ability to edit S6a, S6d, Cx, Dx, Gx, and Rx interface messages to support various procedures such as Location Management, Subscriber Data Handling, Authentication, Fault Recovery, and Notification procedures over S6a interface and AA-Request/Answer, Re-Auth-Request/Answer, Abort-Session-Request/Answer, and Session-Termination-Request/Answer procedure over Rx interface”.



See "GL Announces Diameter Protocol Emulator for LTE" - here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

PCRF Announcements: Tekelec Adds OTT Features, Shared Data Plans and Location Based Services

 
Tekelec announced ".. enhanced Over-the-Top (OTT) applications, advanced shared data plans and location-based LTE services with the newest version of Tekelec’sPolicy Server (PCRF)"
   
"The new Policy Server release, available in June 2012, gives service providers the ability to introduce: Shared data plans [see "Infonetics: Shared Data Plans - an Opportunity with OSS Needs"- here], LTE service options in available service areas, Enhanced over-the-top applications and table-driven policies to accelerate time-to-market".
 
As for OTT - "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 [here, chart below] and Content Optimization solutions deliver faster time-to-market for new services and improved interoperability".
   

Source: Dr. Sungho Choi

See "New release of Tekelec policy server key to profitable, innovative mobile data business model" - here.


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Resource: Diameter Dictionary

 
Developing Solutions has " .. released their complete Diameter Dictionary .. The dsTest dictionary capability allows users to define a set of message templates against which all messages are to be validated. A dictionary may be defined as a base level which can be applied to all applications with dictionary validation enabled, or at the application level which would only be applied to a specific application. Application level dictionaries are translucent, in that if a message or AVP from a message is not found, the base dictionary is also searched".

See "Developing Solutions® Announces Complete Diameter Dictionary" - here. The dictionary is accessible here.



Thursday, March 8, 2012

Wi-Fi Offload Deployments [129]: eircom [Ireland] Uses Aptilo for Service Management

  
Aptilo announced that "eircom Group, the largest telecommunications operator in Ireland, has bundled Wi-Fi services with all of their data plans using the Aptilo solutions for carrier-class Wi-Fi service management and mobile data offloading .. eircom broadband, eMobile and Meteor customers are now leveraging the network as an important customer acquisition and retention tool by providing seamless, secure offload of data from their 3G networks to Wi-Fi".
  
John Bermingham, Senior Product Manager - Data Products, eircom Group said: “From being just one of the many services that we provide, our Wi-Fi offering has rapidly become a strategic tool for optimising the use of our network assets. The ability to offer customers a first-class user experience gives us a competitive edge .. The key to a successful mobile data offloading strategy is making that move from the 3G network to the Wi-Fi network truly invisible to the user. We are already exploring more options in Aptilo’s innovative mobile data offloading solution to make this move seamless for all our customers”.
  
Among other features, Aptilo's offloading solution includes a Diameter Conversion functionality, with which "operators can transparently control and charge for services via standard Diameter (Gx, Gy and Gz) interfaces in the Wi-Fi network with the same mechanisms that they are using in the 3G network. These can still be differentiated for Wi-Fi usage" (here).

In its latest report, for 2010, the eircom group had 1M mobile subscribers. 


See "Ireland’s eircom Group Deploys Aptilo’s Mobile Data Offloading Solution" - here.

Monday, February 27, 2012

BroadForward Offers "Policy Gateway" - Connectivity to Broadband, Policy, Charging or IT interface

   
BroadForward announced the "BFX Broadband Policy Gateway enables connections to and from virtually any Broadband, Policy, Charging or IT interface, straight out-of-the-box. BFX features a rich set of translation, mediation and service logic functions for a wide range of protocols, such as Diameter, XML/HTTP, SOAP and Radius. The availability and flexibility of on-board protocols and functions prevents high customisation costs or upgrades associated with EPC, IMS or BSS systems that are required to fit within targeted Policy Control architectures. Either standalone or as embedded software, BFX can simultaneously handle multiple connections and roles on different interfaces in the operator’s network, at a small footprint". 


See "BroadForward announces BFX, the world’s first Broadband Policy Gateway" - here.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Resource: Diameter Gy Interface Tutorial

     
If you found the 3GPP Gx tutorial interesting (here), you probably want to learn also about its companion, Gy. Bart Barton explains Gy in his "LTE and Beyond" blog.

"Gy is between Online Charging System (OCS) and PCEF. In most cases PCEF is based inside PDN GW (Packed Data Network Gateway) or just short PGW. Gy interface allows online credit control for service data flow based charging"

See "Gy interface - sitting between OCS and PCEF" - here.