This document discusses how telecom companies face challenges in capitalizing on opportunities from the evolution to 3G networks, which will generate much more data. It outlines these challenges as: a dramatic increase in data volume that could overwhelm companies; the need for usage-based billing for new value-added services; meeting customer standards for quality of service; requiring real-time access and processing of customer data; and integration issues with legacy systems. The document proposes that mediation systems, which capture data from multiple sources and route it to various applications, can help companies overcome these challenges by providing a centralized way to integrate diverse data sources and utilize customer information to boost revenue and competitiveness.

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary
2. The Telecom environment is changing.
3. Tomorrow’s Telecom Challenges
4. Mediation Meets Those Challenges
5. How Telecom Companies Will Benefit
• Network Management Functions
• Marketing Functions
• Sales Functions
• Customer Services Functions
• Financial Management Functions
• Legal and Regulatory Functions
6. Compaq – Your Total Solution Provider
• Mediation Partners
• Storage Area Networks
• ZLE
7. Customer Success Stories
• Verizon and TU-KA Cellular Tokyo
• Intec and ITXC
• KPN Mobile
• Comptel Benchmarking Study
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2. 8. References
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3. MEDIATION – MANY PATHS TO INCREASED REVENUE
Executive Summary
The evolution from 2g to 3G means more data. Carriers will want to save, organize, and use that data for business
advantage, and they can. However, on their way to capitalizing on the 3G opportunity, they will face challenges.
• An increase in the volume of data so vast that it threatens to overwhelm them.
• Demand for value-added services that virtually require new billing systems.
• Portfolios differentiated only by the carrier’s SLAs and QoS standards.
• An unquenchable need for speed.
• The challenge of integrating data coming in from multiple vendors and platforms bound for
constantly evolving downstream applications.
Compaq’s mediation solutions enable our customers to generate revenues from their networks amounting to tens
of billions of dollars every year, and we help them do it quickly, accurately, reliably, and cost-effectively. Our
business success is based on providing our customers with operational support systems (OSS) that help make
business activities more profitable and more manageable.
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4. THE TELECOM ENVIRONMENT IS CHANGING
It is early in the new millennium, but already the telecommunications industry finds itself confronted by a sea
change. Voice and IP data are converging, and with that convergence comes a more complicated and demanding
telecom environment. Until recently that environment was safely 2G, meaning that it focused largely on
transporting voice traffic over existing wired and wireless networks. Back office systems needed only to record
data and bill for voice events. However, 2.5G and 3G are coming and with them the mandate to transport value-
added content over those same networks. Consumers, after all, are going mobile. From CDMA to GPRS systems,
they are already beginning to download all kinds of information onto their mobile appliances – weather and traffic
reports, email, driving directions, and more. From PSTN products via SMS to mobile commerce, IP services are
increasing, and the data is flowing.
Obviously, 3G brings with it a mountain of data. Some reports indicate as much as ten times the amount of data
currently in the system. As a carrier, you will want to save, organize, and ultimately use that data to create
business advantage, and there are many business advantages to be had. The wireless IP billing market alone is
expected to leap from $94.6 million in 2001 to $855.7 million in 2005. However, between where now and then lie
some challenges.
Sidebar: GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) is the enabling technology that bridges between the current GSM–
based (Global System Mobile) mobile networks and the next generation UMTS–based (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications Service) mobile networks. With data transmission rates of 115 kbps, GPRS is optimized for
‘bursty’ datacom services such as mobile Internet access, multimedia, and instant messaging.
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5. TOMORROW’S TELECOM CHALLENGES
Dramatic Increase in Data Volume
How will you avoid information overload? Carriers want to make sense out of the information they have – and
soon they will have much more of it. In fact, carriers may have an information overload and maintenance problem.
Increasing use of mobile technology has already increased the volume of CDRs. The launch of new 3G services with
its IP component will multiply the volume of EDRs. And it isn’t just the volume. Data will arrive from more and
varied sources. Ultimately, carriers must decide what gets stored and for how long. After all, they are responsible
for making sure that they can handle their business. Clearly, they will need new, more flexible, ways to capture,
store and transport data.
Usage Based Billing for Value Added Services
How will you use the new data to develop revenue? How will carriers charge for a value-add service? What is it
worth to check on the weather or download a Webpage? These are billable events, but they will be billed very
differently from the standard voice call. Billing for
content requires a transition from flat rate to usage-based billing. In order to make that transition, you must be
able to see individual account records at a higher level of granularity.
Even with flat-rate billing, carriers still need some of the ‘who, what, when, where and why’ information that is in
the transaction record to understand how customers are doing business. To provide true CRM (Customer
Relationship Management), they will need to see into the calling pattern, history and habits. Only then can they
determine service levels, pricing strategies and solutions.
Service Level Agreements/Quality of Service
How will you meet customer’s standards for excellence? Service levels and service at a specified price will be a
major concern of the end-user. If specific service levels are not met, carriers will be forced to issue QoS (Quality of
Service) credits/discounts, based on SLA’s (Service Level Agreements). Resolving the inevitable disputes will require
access to granular detail data, such as that provided by EDRs.
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6. The Need for Speed
How fast can you actually use the customer information you have? Data has traditionally been batched and
processed within a 30-day window. For carriers, that delay between a customer phone call and billing for that call
is fertile ground for fraud. However, if a company operates in real time, the fraud window narrows. Further,
customer service agents need immediate access to customer information to solve problems, address complaints as
soon as they happen and make adjustments. And what about cash flow? As we have said, the payment channel
can be 60 days long, resulting in cash flow problems.
Carriers will want to offer their customers the ability to use real-time data with their customers also. Retailers
(especially electronic retailers) need to integrate all customer touch points in real time, including instore, web and
catalog tracking to keep their inventory up-to-date. Carriers also need real-time insight into the operational and
traffic statistics of a customer’s network. By so doing, they can dynamically allocate bandwidth and assign QoS on a
per-application basis
Integration Issues with Legacy Systems
How do you pull al this together for seamless service? The merging of new applications and system elements with
existing network architecture will create integration issues on several fronts.
• Data records entering tomorrow’s network from many trading partners will arrive in many different
formats. As yet, there is no standard for EDRs. Therefore, the trick is to capture that information from
the network or network element in a format that’s usable.
• Advances in Internet technology will create other integration issues as IPv6 (Internet Version 6) is
launched, especially while standards are evolving.
• Carriers will need to integrate legacy billing solutions and evolving networks.
What tools and services can carriers use to save them from information overload, provide the level of detail
needed for billing and customer service and provide the needed integration?
MEDIATION MEETS THE CHALLENGE
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7. The word ‘mediation’ comes from the Latin and means ‘to be in the middle’, from the Latin word medius.
Mediation systems sit between the network infrastructure and downstream applications. Traditionally, their role
has been to handle one type of data, entering the system from one source and bound for one downstream path to
a billing application. Increasingly, however, they must capture information from several network elements
(switches, the Internet, etc.) and then store, review, sort, abstract and send it on to several downstream
applications. The more reliable this information is, the better carriers can utilize it to boost competitiveness and
revenue assurance.
Carriers need a mechanism by which they can integrate all their interactions with diverse sources seamlessly. The
typical way of meeting this business need is by customer developing a centralized and redundant repository of all
the available resources. However, this is a manual, rigid approach that is both expensive and results in loss of
scalability as the number of services grows over time. A better solution is mediation technology.
Independent mediation has been in use since the early 1980s. But the 3G challenge requires a new generation of
data mediation systems with new capability to meet new challenges. Today’s mediation systems lack the
functionality to handle even today’s modest requirements; they certainly can’t handle tomorrow’s.
Next Generation Mediation is Different
Sidebar: Best in class mediation products will include not only next generation mediation functionality, but also
SAN storage with ZLE technology for speed. [Editors note to printer: insert this sidebar here.]
Carriers need a new generation of mediation systems. Legacy systems and next generation systems differ in three
significant ways:
• Current systems are based on frame relay, switched or cable telephone networks. They forward data
from CDRs (call detail records) to, mostly, billing applications. Next generation systems also process
packet-based IP data or EDRs (event data records).
• Current mediation systems were designed using a 1-to-1 pipeline configuration. That is, there was
one data source (usually a cable or switch) leading to one back-office application (usually billing).
Next generation systems must collate information from multiple systems (routers, web servers,
authentication servers) and vendors, generate EDRs for every session and export all relevant
information to multiple downstream applications (billing, CRM) for value added services such as CRM,
QoS, SLAs.
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8. • The new system must also offer real-time processing for value added services such as CRM, billing-on-
demand and fraud protection.
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9. The SANs Storage Advantage for Mediation
SANs (Storage Area Networks) are the key to unrestricted data access and thus efficient use of data. Conventional
data storage can scatter business information over several servers or attached external disks. That makes it hard to
access. On the other hand, SANs offer unrestricted data access as they create one data pool and simultaneously
share that data pool across all servers and systems. Add ‘any-to-any’ connectivity between servers and storage,
and companies can now organize and manage data as an independent resource.
SANs are faster and easier to scale than conventional storage, with no downtime. Given the uncertainty of 3G,
carriers will surely need to adjust mediation formats and rules as things evolve. Furthermore, imagine the sudden
popularity of a new service and the influx of new customers. With traditional storage, scaling to handle this happy
event could create a performance bottleneck. A carrier could decide to hold back future new offerings because the
mediation system can’t handle it. That could mean losing competitive advantage. But with a modular design SAN,
part of the initial design choice is the planning for new configurations. So, an increase in business won’t disrupt the
business.
Businesses are always looking to lower costs and achieve better service levels at the same time. In the past, these
two goals often conflicted. However, these advancements in storage technology, along with dramatic declines in
storage pricing now make this a win-win reality.
The value that SANs hold for mediation systems cannot be overstated.
What is a SAN?
Traditional Server Storage Storage Area Network (SAN)
• Internal drives or directly attached external disks • Centralized data pool shared across any
to store data number of servers and systems
• Business critical information is often scattered • Business critical information stored in one
over a large number of servers common pool for easy management and
higher availability
• Limits an organization’s flexibility to access their • Provides access across entire operation via
information ‘any-to-any” connectivity between servers and
storage
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10. The Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE) Advantage for Mediation
ZLE provides a real-time architecture for collecting, synchronizing, routing and caching information drawn from a
full range of telecommunications operational systems. Consolidated information is instantly delivered to where it
can do the most good. Consequently, every transaction is instantly visible across the enterprise and can be acted
on immediately. Customer service agents, for example, have a single, unified view of the customer that enables
them to enhance the customer experience with assistance and attractive offers that are highly personalized. As
hyper-competitive markets such as telecommunications increase the speed of business, they need to also
accelerate the internal flow of information. That makes zero latency a business imperative.
By integrating all data and applications throughout the enterprise, the ZLE framework offers several compelling
advantages for telecommunications companies.
• Ensures that all applications are using the same current data, leading to improved customer service
• Puts data to work instantly in a real-time environment from which valuable business information can
be derived with sub-second latency for rapid response and operational agility.
• Enables telcos to move quickly to deploy new high-volume, real-time enabled applications that are
insulated (for scalability and reliability) from existing applications by the central architecture.
What is a zero latency enterprise?
A zero latency enterprise describes an organization that deploys data throughout the organization almost
immediately after it is created in any area of the enterprise. In a zero latency enterprise environment, formerly
costly and time-consuming manual processes are executed by IT systems in near real-time. Data processing is
transformed from an operational necessity into a strategic asset that yields faster response time, better service,
and greater business intelligence.
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11. The Gartner Group
coined term ‘zle’,
meaning ‘zero latency
enterprise’‘ or no delay’.
Carriers need “no delay”
between creating data
and being able to use it.
Compaq has adopted
ZLE as the brand name
for its zero latency
products.
ZLE is now considered such a strategic imperative that eleven of the world’s largest service providers recently
participated in a study conducted by the Gartner Group. The results? The companies studied said that a real-time
CRM program would significantly improve the customer experience and reduce customer turnover from 5-15%.
For these companies, that improvement alone would yield an increase in profitability of up to 15%. By introducing
a zle-based billing on demand solution, companies believe they can effectively increase revenue by 2-3%/year.
With instant access to credit and account information, they can reduce fraud by more than 50%. By linking
separate systems into a single system, companies can reduce information processing costs by 5% to 35%.
TELECOM COMPANIES WILL BENEFIT
Telecom companies will reap the benefits of mediation solutions across the board as new systems serve all
major organizational functions, both front and back-office. For revenues to rise, billing must be done right. But
IP data will contain more than billing information. Even with flat-rate billing only, carriers still need some of
the who's, what's, when's, where's, and whys information that is in the transaction record to continue to
understand how customers are doing business.
Next Generation mediation systems will need to transform raw data collected from the network layers into a
service-level profile of each end-user in order to determine service levels, pricing strategies and solutions.
Next generation mediation systems also have additional useful functionality for a number of other front and
back-end systems such as OSS.
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12. For a description of the benefit to be derived from each function, see the sections following. They discuss how
each function will benefit - network management, marketing, sales, customer services, finance, legal and
regulatory.
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13. THE NETWORK MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT WILL BENEFIT
A serious beneficiary of real time data, this entire department’s effectiveness and ability to adapt to specific
conditions could evolve from a reactive approach to a proactive approach on faults, service restoration and general
network monitoring. From the network perspective, mediation works from two directions – provisioning
subscribers and activating services for them and then collecting usage information from the network.
Service Assurance/Quality of Service
SLAs are guarantees of service quality and related support. They usually have financial penalty clauses that keep
the carrier focused on delivering the agreed contractual service, within the prescribed time constraints. To comply,
carriers must rely on accurately assessing the impact of network events.
Large-scale failures of networks can have a dramatic effect on certain time-sensitive and telephony-reliant
businesses such as commodity trading or real-time market data companies. Using real-time data correctly ensures
accurate load balancing between the network access points and reduction of inbound/outbound line blocking.
Using historic data, carriers can now pro-actively plan for capacity on certain switches before it becomes an issue
for customers. By determining requirements, carriers can anticipate the effect of large congregations of customers
“blitzing” a mobile network and adjust the network to suit the traffic profiles as they happen.
Picture the following scenario.
A user initiates a video conference call under a QoS agreement. Dissatisfied with a noisy connection, they
terminate the call and contact customer service. In order to address the problem, customer service must be able
to verify the poor connection. Using data supplied
in real-time by the mediation system, the CSR finds the detail she needs to compensate this customer.
Meanwhile, the mediation system continues to reformat the same data for later export to a billing system or
trading partner.
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14. Planning & Analysis for Network Capacity
The mediation layer resolves technical incompatibility issues and makes it easier for carriers to commercially
launch new services by providing one management interface in a multi-vendor network, instant service
provisioning, and modularity that ensures constant operability, even during upgrades. Mediation centralizes all
network data onto a single platform and makes it available to users and other applications across the entire Carrier
enterprise. The data can be used to identify bottlenecks and over-utilization of the network.
“The winners in the world of mobile-Internet will be those who can manage new networks, not just build them.”
ICD
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15. THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT WILL BENEFIT
Reduce Churn
Customer churn is a common, complex and difficult to solve problem. However, marketing departments can use
next generation mediation systems to reduce churn in three important ways:
• Provide customer service agents access to network quality information.
• Identify behavior that generally leads to defections.
• Rapidly identify customers who are about to defect and initiate win-back programs within 48 hours.
Historical data on lost customers often holds the key to predicting churn. It is possible to apply propensity models
that establish patterns and relationships in customer behavior that clearly predict customer churn. For instance,
specific events like changes in call patterns and decreases in volume are often good indicators of potential churn.
Spotting this change in behavior before the customer contracts with another supplier is vital, as it is then possible
to take proactive, preventative action.
To acquire a new customer
costs 7-10 times more than
retaining an existing one.
Yankee
Fine Tune Marketing Campaigns In-flight
In-flight campaign tuning means monitoring changes in behavior during a campaign so that you can refine the
marketing campaign while it is still running. The marketer of the near future will monitor campaign response as it
comes into the call center or the Website and refine the messages and target audience as required. The days of
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16. waiting for several weeks or months for response figures will simply cease to exist. The direct marketer may
perform almost like a Wall Street trader – getting real time data from terminals, applying propensity-modeling
techniques to the data and acting immediately on the output.
Launch and Monitor Products
Continuously reviewing and monitoring product usage and sales performance allows product managers to enhance
or withdraw products at the optimum time and provides the ability to analyze the impact of bundling and pricing
changes.
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17. THE SALES DEPARTMENT WILL BENEFIT
Actively implementing the marketing vision, the sales department is often closest to the customer. By capturing
customer information and combining it with real time customer behavior, mediation provides a new level of
business intelligence.
Ensure That All Revenue is Counted– never lose an EDR
Revenue assurance in this context means 100% accreditation for every dollar that customers spend. It is essential
that sales directors ensure that all sales are accounted for. Mismanagement of sales-related information is viewed
as a key failing in this role.
Most problems are caused by disparate switching and information platforms, volumes of data, and the inherent
delays caused by poor integration. Different switch platforms create an issue in standardizing data and inevitably
some information is lost in the translation. Integrated mediation solves the disparate platform and volume issues
immediately. It also soles the problem of poor integration by ensuring that the links to downstream applications
are robust and complete.
Cross-sell and Up-sell
Data analysis and profiling allows sales departments to proactively move customers into services that best match
their usage profiles. Image this example: A customer tries repeatedly to call home on a mobile telephone. The
number is busy. Three busy calls to the same number triggers a campaign to sell a ring back service.
What if we could ensure that our existing customers
bought more because usage data was used to trigger
up-sell and cross-sell contacts?
?
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18. Reduce Route Defection
Route defection in corporate sales is the loss of a specific calling profile from a regular, established behavioral
pattern. Identifying that a customer is about to defect can be relatively simple, given the right type of data. With a
real time feed of call data, when an unexpected fall in traffic is determined the likelihood of defection is high and
action must be taken to prevent loss of other routes. Mediation systems can detect the telltale sign of service
usage drop before it is too late.
US organizations lose half their customers
every five years and only one in twelve
customers return.
THE CUSTOMER SERVICES DEPARTMENT WILL BENEFIT
The support of existing customers provides extremely useful information that
A customer typically complements direct sales activities. Understanding the customer’s issues as
interacts with a
company NINE (9) well as the customer himself enables agents to counter many complaints on
times for every
ONE (1) completed the spot. What was initially a difficult, defensive dialogue could potentially be
transaction. turned into a positive cross-selling/up-selling opportunity, where the customer
believes that they are receiving an enhanced level of service.
3.1
Bill in Real-time or on Demand
This application area is a ‘win-win’ for carrier and customer alike. Both parties are able to bypass the conventional
billing cycle by using real time records online. The carrier gets settlement more promptly, thus aiding cash flow,
and the customer is able to manage the time of the payment to their convenience. For example, the customer may
request that a limit be placed on the level of spend within any given time period. The carrier can measure calls
against this threshold in real-time and alert the customer when they are approaching the threshold.
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19. Many suppliers of billing systems do not have the ability to link into ALL of the network interfaces in anywhere
near real time. Therefore the statement of account that the customer views is potentially out of date or
incomplete. Mediation systems using rating and zero latency technology have the flexibility and real-time
capability to single source the entire bill-related data. Threshold management is automated. The result is improved
cash flow from the impact of more prompt payments.
Handle Customer Complaints
The ability to provide a real time, single view of the customer is essential to problem solving in the face of
customer complaints. For example, consider a user who has subscribed to a high level of QoS but who cannot
really get a connection at the subscribed QoS. Dissatisfied with the network connection, he calls the CSR. The CSR
looks at the EDR generated for the session and verifies the QoS that the subscriber actually used. If it is inferior, the
subscriber gets a discount.
A large Carrier uses this approach to route specific calls through to the same agent that a customer has spoken to
on previous occasions. This continuity ensures a more effective resolution to any outstanding issues and positions
the Carrier well for future dialogues.
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20. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WILL BENEFIT
Measure Customer Profitability
Finance is the hub around which all actions revolve. It is becoming clear that not all minutes are of equal value.
Thus, you must understand which minutes contribute to profitability. Even large Carrier’s have limited resources,
and investment opportunities outstrip your ability to deliver them.
Detect Fraud
Fraud is a big problem – about US$10 Billion. The problem is rising at 10% - 15% annually. This equates to large
fixed line carriers losing 3% - 7% of their total revenue to fraud. Cellular carriers often experience 5% - 15% loss.
Now, with a zero-latency solution, you can detect fraud instantly via instant access to credit and account
information. Add to that the ability to set parameters in real time and you may be able to reduce fraud by more
than 50%.
Mediation with ZLE can detect certain types of fraud in real-time e.g. cloning, geography and threshold violations
or call collision/overlap. For example, call collision/overlap (the identification of two simultaneous calls from
different locations) could be handled with an immediate suspension of service or diverting the call to a customer
services center. Geography and threshold violations could also be dealt with more effectively by adding an element
of automation to the process.
Control Financial Exposure
Keeping a tight control on credit limits can be challenging if your finance department does not have direct access
to real time data. Striking a balance between draconian and overly accommodating policies is difficult to achieve.
Mediation provides an ideal real time, analytical environment for Credit and Risk Management. Each customer can
be monitored separately and treated according to specific, pre-agreed metrics.
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21. On the surface, pre-paid mobile phones have solved some of these credit issues. The growth of pre-paid telephony
has been phenomenal. The UK alone has in excess of 4 Million prepaying telephony customers who were
previously unable to obtain credit or wanted to control their spending.
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22. THE LEGAL AND REGULATORY FUNCTIONS WILL BENEFIT
How much could you gain from getting a product approved and to market one month earlier than expected?
Perhaps millions of dollars over a twelve-month period!
Regulatory and governmental bodies throughout the world are increasingly involved in the shaping and monitoring
of modern Carrier’s. Security agencies are actively seeking assistance with calling patterns relating to crime and
fraud. This often requires real time information from a variety of sources in order to establish specific connections
and potentially related activities.
One large Carrier has such an infrastructure in place and recently used it to crack a
drug ring by working closely with the local police force over a period of three
months. The level of work involved was minimal. The extra requests for information
were simply scheduled and automated accordingly.
The drug ring in question generated approximately
$50 million dollars per year in illegal revenue.
This was terminated in one early morning swoop on several households. Mediation
provided the bulk of the required information and intelligence.
Security
Government agencies and police forces are becoming increasingly demanding of the larger Carrier’s, regularly
requesting live information on specific activities. Armed with this real time information, the agencies and security
forces are able to provide a speedy reaction to events as and when they actually happen rather than the following
day or week when it may simply be too late. Does your Carrier have the right technology to allow this type of
analysis and alarm capability without interrupting day to day operations?
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23. Regulatory Reporting
Organizations like the FCC also require fast responses to specific queries. Industry regulators can be very taxing on
a large Carrier when considering the potential market impact of new tariffs/services and the potential impact.
The ability to proactively drive the regulatory authorities ensures that the control of certain situations is in the
hands of the Carrier and not the Carrier’s competition or the regulator. It puts the pressure back on the
competition and drains their resources. How much overhead can be placed on the competition by ensuring that
they are constantly reacting to price changes rather than generating their own ideas?
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24. THE COMPAQ HISTORY WITH TELECOM
The prime movers in the wireless market are carriers. These companies are building the vast public networks that
will serve us for years into the future. Increasingly, however, carriers are turning to computer companies to help
build these new networks. Why? Because computer companies have the necessary digital technology which is
standards-based and therefore flexible, high performing and low cost.
It sometimes surprises people to learn that Compaq is not just a PC company. For 25 years it has provided the core
technology that drives many of the major wireless services in the world.
Over the years, our customers have included:
• AT&T
• Verizon
• Sprint
• British Telecom
• France Telecom
• Deutsche Telecom
• China Unicom
To those customers, we have provided:
• Roaming technology for wireless services to 70 million mobile customers
• Fraud management solutions that protect 90 million users
• Network management solutions for more than 120 phone companies around the world.
• The solutions that power almost all the 800 numbers in the United States.
Today, Compaq Telecom has much to offer the carrier with mediation needs:
• Over 100 mediation customers worldwide.
• An application portfolio including such leaders as Comptel, Intec and Verizon UMS.
• A diverse operating systems portfolio including NSK, Tru64, Linux, and Windows NT
• A turnkey solution including implementation, consulting, support and training
• Systems pre-configured to the customers specifications
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25. COMPAQ – YOUR TOTAL SOLUTION PROVIDER
Solution Part #1 - Compaq’s Partners
Our portfolio partners provide mediation solutions operating on Compaq AlphaServers, NonStop Himalaya and
Proliant servers. These fine companies have the distinction of being Platinum Partners based on the strategic
importance of their relationship with Compaq.
Comptel (HEX:CTL1V). is the global market leader in mediation solutions. Through their local offices and the
extensive partner network they have established a truly global presence serving over 200 customers in 56
countries worldwide, including Omnipoint/Vodaphone of Italy with 15 million subscribers. Headquartered in
Helsinki, Finland, Comptel is listed on the Helsinki Exchange.
Running on Compaq’s Tru64 operating system and the AlphaServer platform, Comptel’s Mediation Device
Solutions (MDS) is a leading solution in the field of independent mediation devices. Utilizing an Oracle database
structure, this solution is comprised of both billing and mediation functionality and service activation features in
great demand among fixed and mobile network operators. For more information, visit www.comptel.com.
Intec Telecom Systems (LSE:ITL) provides fundamental revenue assurance technologies such as Inter-mediatE
convergent mediation and InterconnecT inter-carrier billing, to the telecommunications industry. Clients include
the world's biggest carriers, such France Telecom, and Verizon (for whom they handle 600 million CDRs/day). Their
global reach serves 200 customers in over 30 countries. INTEC is a FTSE 250 company. For more information, visit
www.intec-telecom-systems.com.
Intec’s Inter-mediatE modular solution is a high-volume, convergent solution that collects, processes and
distributes data from circuit- and packet-based networks. it utilizes a proprietary database structure reporting
through oracle and supports English, Spanish and French languages. Installed at over 85 customer sites across 5
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26. continents, customers include large carriers processing over 7,850 million records/day down to start-ups
processing only 10,000 records/day. Packaged with the Compaq AlphaServer and Tru64 operating system, it
accepts any record format from any network element and interfaces with any billing solution. For more
information on the Compaq AlphaServer, visit our online showroom at http://www.compaq.com/alphaserver/
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27. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is the largest provider of wireline and wireless communications in the United
States, with 132.1 million access line equivalents and 29.4 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with
more than $67 billion in annual revenues and 240,000 employees, Verizon's global reach covers more than 40
countries incuding Japan where they process over 300 million CDRs/day for KDDI-Japan.
The Usage Management System (UMS) from Verizon Data Services is a high-volume, high-velocity system that
automates data collection from the most sophisticated networks. At the heart of UMS are three robust modules: a
flexible mediation system, a user-friendly, rules-based development tool, and a complete pre-billing solution. The
UMS operates on Compaq’s Himalaya NonStop platform and integrates with any billing solution. For more
information on the Nonstop Himalaya Servers visit our online showroom at http://www.compaq.com/showroom.
For more information on Verizon, visit them at www.verizon.com.
Compaq Mediation Business Advantages
Feature Benefit
• Fault Tolerance • Permanent availability of business critical
information
• Common mediation across switching • Lower overall cost and single version of the
platform truth
• Handles convergent networks – wireline, • Lower overall cost and single pint of reference
wireless, and ATM
• No pre-set billing cycles • Cash flow, margins and customer service can
be improved
• Real-time output • Customer and network intelligence is
available for those that need it, when they
need it.
• Mixed workload • Lower overall cost of
implementation/ongoing management and
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28. better overall performance.
• True scalability • Protects initial investment and levels out
capital expenditure spikes.
Solution Part #2 - Compaq SAN Storage
Compaq San storage has been hailed repeatedly as the industry leader in SAN storage solutions. Our special
advantages include:
• Unlimited capacity and scalable performance through modular RAID Storage units.
• Supports up to 100 km in a single long distance segment for a fibre-channel SAN
• Support for Internet Protocol (IP) by seamlessly integrating IP connectivity with SAN fiber channel.
• Do-it-yourself configuration tools and templates that save setup costs and time.
• Downtime-free expansion allowing businesses to add servers or reconfigure applications without
interrupting normal daily operations.
Compaq Enterprise Storage is the number one global storage solutions supplier. According to studies published in
August 2001 by Gartner Dataquest and IDC, customers continue to turn to Compaq in large numbers for the value
and reliability of their enterprise storage products. Compaq is one of only two storage vendors in the Leadership
Quadrant of Gartner's highly regarded ''SAN Integrator Magic Quadrant'' analysis.
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29. "With its new
StorageWorks
”Enterprise” products,
Compaq remains the
leader in the modular
system storage market,
and is the largest
storage vendor and the
largest SAN vendor
based on capacity
shipments".
Gartner, Jan 2002
Source: The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted June 2001 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. Gartner’s
permission to print its Magic Quadrant should not be deemed to be an endorsement of any company or product
depicted in the quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is Gartner’s opinion and is an analytical representation of a marketplace
at and for a specific time period. It measures vendors against Gartner-defined criteria for a marketplace. The
positioning of vendors within a Magic Quadrant is based on the complex interplay of many factors. Well- informed
vendor selection decisions should rely on more than a Magic Quadrant. Gartner Research is intended to be one of
many information sources and the reader should not rely solely on the Magic Quadrant for decision-making. Gartner
expressly disclaims all warranties, express or implied of fitness of this research for a particular purpose
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30. “For us, the improvements in moving
to the Compaq StorageWorks SAN
were so obvious that we never looked
back; we never gave it a second
thought. It was evident from the
beginning that we had made the right
choice.”
Chip Register,
senior vice president and CIO,
Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group,
Inc.
In the above diagram of a SAN Configuration, the data stored on the Compaq StorageWorks RAID arrays can be
presented to multiple servers and heterogeneous platforms. As more servers and switches are added to a SAN
fabric, the resulting configuration, known as a topology, can be optimized for a large variety of needs. This support
may include future migration, data locality, accessibility, disaster tolerance, performance workloads, geographic
layout and scalability.
Compaq’s leadership in SANs is demonstrated in many ways. With Compaq, new technology serves as a business
solution, and not just a technical advance. For example, Compaq’s storage arrays use a cutting edge modular
design that allows for rapid expansion with NO downtime. Even during periods of exceptional growth, normal
business functions are never compromised.
For more information on Compaq Telecom storage products and services, visit our website at
http://www.compaq.com/services/storage/st_raid.html.
For more information on the implementation of storage solutions, see us at this address:
http://www.compaq.com/services/storage/st_implementation.html
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31. Mediation 31
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32. Solution Part #3 - Compaq Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE) Technology
Compaq’s ZLE is an integrated solution combining a zero latency engine – encompassing all of Compaq’s core
server platforms – with the software components needed to provide instant access to a single, integrated
operational data store.
Compaq ZLE technology removes all the barriers to rapid deployment of your business-critical information. Among
the obstacles are ‘application islands’ – applications that are poorly integrated into the enterprise or sometimes
not integrated at all. These can include packaged, custom or legacy applications or a combination. Because they
often require costly and time-consuming manual processes before they can interface with the rest of the
organization, they are left isolated, creating bottlenecks that compromise response time and the value of the data.
After all, data that you can’t reach when you need it isn’t worth much.
Compaq’s ZLE technology removes that barrier by combining ODS (operational data store) with world-class EAI
software to create an engine (the Compaq Interaction Manager) that both pushes and pulls data from a central
database to create a unique framework for application integration, e-commerce and CRM.
Compaq’s ZLE solutions for telecommunications are field proven to work in the most demanding business
environments. Compaq teamed with major telecommunications companies to create a realistic scenario so large
that it would tax any other system beyond its capacity. But the Compaq solution was able to add 1.2 billion CDRs to
a NonStop Himalaya server database every day – and keep them online for 90 days! The scale is unprecedented.
The engine itself integrates all of Compaq’s core server platforms, including a 128-processor NonStop Himalaya
server, Tru64Unix GS140 AlphaServers, and Windows NT-based ProLiant 7000 OLAP servers, and a cluster of
ProLiant 1850 data mining servers.
This scenario demonstrates the Compaq advantage:
• Unlimited scalability to handle absolutely any size workload.
• The NonStop SQL software is the only dtabase that can support concurrent transaction processing
and data mining.
• ZLE solutions are individually engineered using a life-cycle methodology.
• ZLE solutions are built to operate in an open-standards environment, allowing carriers to deploy them
on a mix of systems
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33. “The zero latency product offers a flexible and cost effective solution for pulling queries from various data sources
with minimal investments to reconfigure the environment.”
Evelyn Follit, senior vice president and CIO, Tandy Corporation/Radio Shack
For more information on our ZLE solution, see us at this address on the Internet:
http://telecom.compaq.com/solutions.
Solution Part #4 - Compaq Award-winning Integration Services
Today, carriers need a total solution provider who can deliver both services and products integrated with all
applications and platforms. In the past, the carrier knew that they would have to integrate the solution into their
own network system themselves. Today competition in the telecom sector is so fierce that they must concentrate
on retaining current customers and searching for new ones. Thus, they need a turnkey solution.
To meet specific requirements, carriers may choose from a range of services including:
• Data Integration
• Data Mining
• User Access Integration
• Enterprise Application Integration
• Hardware and Software Integration
• Performance Assurance for your entire solution
• Ongoing Project Management
• Disaster Tolerance planning
• Security Management.
For a ZLE solution, Compaq Global Services can help you reduce risk, time, and costs by employing our expertise
and the rigorous methodologies of our ZLE Implementation service:
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34. Plan Design Implement Manage Support
Strategic Implementation
Business Exploration Architecture Blueprint Integrated Business
consulting and Proof of Concept Deployment IT Operations Critical
BPR with Architecture Pilot Performance Management Support
Scan Assurance
24 x 7
Business goals IT and business Rapid, Stable availability
and direction strategic Proven low-risk operation
alignment architecture implementation
Figure # : The life cycle of Compaq Global Services for ZLE spans planning, design, implementation, management
and support.
Compaq Global Services continues to be recognized for excellence by customers, partners, industry organizations,
and publications worldwide. Our awards and honors reflect our dedication, technical expertise, professionalism,
and commitment to customer satisfaction. For more information, see us at
http://www.compaq.com/services/awards/index.html.
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35. CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES
Compaq Telecom products have served thousands of carrier customers worldwide. Here
are just a few of their stories.
TU-KA Cellular Tokyo/Verizon Rise to the Challenge
Verizon customer TU-KA Cellular Tokyo offers service to Japan’s Pacific Belt Zone. They have watched their
customer base skyrocket to 1,150 million customers, necessitating an infrastructure that would support the
increased call volumes and record call histories, tally charges and adjust rate plans. The existing system processed
both rating and billing operations on a single mainframe system that hampered TU-KA’s attempt to get
competitive rates plans into the market swiftly and flexibly. They needed a system with the ability to process
massive amounts of accurate tasks online at almost real time.
After a detailed search of foreign and domestic computer companies, TU-KA Cellular Tokyo elected to support their
new rating system – TUBASA – with UMS software from Verizon operating on the Compaq NonStop Himalaya
platform. This solution has greatly increased the efficiency of the billing operations by offloading mediation and
rating from the mainframe billing system. The CDR is now sent from the switch system directly to UMS mediation
which checks enormous volumes of data in order to calculate each customer’s charge based on day of the week,
time of day, customer rates plan and other variables. While the new capability is great, the best news is that the
mediation system sends the information onto the mainframe billing system within 30 minutes of receipt of the call
data.
For more information on TU-KA, see their website at http://www.kddi.com/english.
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36. ITXC/INTEC Blaze New Trails over the Internet
In just four years of operation, ITXC has become the largest US-based dedicated wholesale carrier of international
phone calls. The company ranks among the top 20 carriers of any kind in the world based on minutes of
international calling. Approximately two out of every 100 international calls worldwide are carried by ITXC on
behalf of the retail carriers whose customers make these calls.
Proprietary ITXC technology has made it possible to build a carrier-grade call completion network, ITXC.net, with
849 points of presence in 406 cities in 146 countries.
For a company to become the largest US-based dedicated wholesaler of international phone calls in just four years,
it has to be ready to pounce on opportunities. In March of 1998 ITXC set out to build a carrier-grade call-
completion network using the Internet as a backbone and bypass the traditional route of leasing or buying
networks in worldwide markets, paying large monthly fees, and taking months to set up its operations. But the
company realized that, in order to ensure the highest levels of service, it needed a way to gather and leverage as
much real-time network data as possible for a variety of downstream systems.
“We were a start-up business not so long ago and the way you get ahead is by
jumping on opportunities. And the Intec and Compaq platform has allowed us to
do that. We owe a lot of that to the power of mediation.”
Lee Cascio, vice president of development, network engineering and
development, ITXC
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37. ITXC started developing its own mediation solution using a Microsoft SQL Server, however
the realization quickly hit home that a fledgling technology would require regular patches, fixes, and updates.
couldn’t afford to wait, and decided to evaluate existing mediation solutions. Intec’s Inter-mediatE solution
featured multiple approaches to every potential problem, instilling a comfort factor that the system would be able
to handle any situation ITXC might throw at it.
Today, running on Compaq’s AlphaServer™ ES40 platform, Inter-mediatE, Intec’s module-based, convergent
collection and mediation platform, gathers raw network usage data and transforms it into rich, billable business
information in formats that can be distributed to ITXC’s operational and business consuming applications.
“They’re looking at reports, statistics, alarms—everything is hot off the press,” related Lee Cascio, vice president of
development, network engineering and development at ITXC. “The information is 15 minutes old at the most when
they receive it on their screens, and it’s all flowing out of the mediation system. They get more than call detail
records (CDRs)—they also get SNMP (simple network management protocol) data, and log files.”
Using the Internet allows the Company to have a unique cost structure, no net debt and extremely fast speed to
market in any new location. The Intec and Compaq solution has enabled ITXC to do just that. For more information
on ITXC, see their website at http://www.itxc.com.
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38. KPN Mobile/Comptel Stay Abreast of Billing Needs
It’s no secret that telecommunications systems are evolving rapidly today. But some billing systems still haven’t
gotten the word. KPN Mobile, a Netherlands-based provider of wireless services in Europe, had a provider, a billing
system that couldn’t quickly manage new equipment releases in the core network. The company decided to define
a standard interface to send a stream of data between the systems, but soon discovered this was more time-
consuming than anticipated.
In the meantime, KPN wanted to introduce a new wireless service and found that delivering CDRs in uniform
format for billing was in the critical path—hardly an optimal situation.
Adding new functionalities to its network meant that KPN’s CDR formats were changing. A flexible mediation
solution would ensure a uniform billing environment and promote revenue assurance. So, with flexibility and the
capability to manage system changes quickly as its key criteria, KPN approached Comptel Corporation about
developing a mediation platform that could help reduce time to market for services and beef up its bottom line.
“We were extending our core network, making configuration changes and simultaneously collecting
information from our MSCs (mobile switching centers)
and network events. In order to be flexible enough to grow, we had
to introduce mediation.”
Peter de Fuijk, Manager, operations/ development for value-added services
The resulting solution collects and correlates information from the company’s 26 networked MSCs, its service
management system center (SMSC), applications like voice mail, and various value-added systems, and sends it all
downstream to a retail and wholesale billing system used for third-party customers and KPN’s roaming subscribers.
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39. Based on a Compaq AlphaServer™ six-node cluster, the system delivers the performance and availability needed
to manage an average of 25 million CDRs per day with zero revenue leakage while maintaining 600 GB of data.
With an excellent support contract from Compaq Service that covers maintenance, release management, and
minor changes and adaptations to the system, KPN is confident its mediation system has the company flowing in
the right direction. For more information on KPN, see their website at http://www.kpn.com.
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40. Compaq/Comptel Benchmark World-Class Performance
Compaq and Comptel are long standing partners with over 40 joint customers worldwide. The combination of
Comptel applications with Compaq innovative products, services and enabling technology has resulted in
integrated solutions delivered globally. in a benchmarking event Comptel’s MDS/AMD product, together with
Compaq’s AlphaServer platform produced outstanding test results that approach performance figures previously
seen only with high-end super computers and proprietary architectures. This record-breaking performance
demonstrates that the Comptel /Compaq solution offers both excellent maximum capacity and the scalability to
maintain performance when the numbers of ER’s and subscribers increase.
Characterization tests conducted at the Compaq Computer European Technology Centre in Sophia Antipolis,
France yielded exceptional results. The objective of the testing was to measure the compatibility and performance
of the MDS/AMD application under both ideal and customer-case conditions. MDS/AMD performed mediation
tasks including conversions, analysis and delivery of event records produced by ATM and GPRS networks.
The tests yielded just the result that both companies were looking for - outstanding MDS/AMD performance,
scalability and stability. The powerful Comptel/Compaq combination processed over 100,000 ERs per hour or over
8.6 billion ERs/day. This result proves that MDS/AMD can increase in scale from smaller environments to
accommodate the performance requirements of even the largest operators.
In addition, the tests, conducted on both the Compaq ES45 and Compaq GS320 AlphaServers prove Comptel’s
mediation solutions can grow in a cost-effective way. The ES45 is a high performing option that renders good value
for the money, while the GS320 offers maximum performance. For more information on Comptel, see the website
at http://www.comptel.com.
“The scalability of the Compaq platform enabled us to
prove that we are ready for the mobile Internet
challenge. This benchmark is an example of the close
global co-operation between Compaq and Comptel and
enables a smooth and consistent technology migration
path with best-of-breed solutions for operators.”
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41. Jari Annala, Executive Vice President, Comptel.
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42. SUMMARY
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43. Resources and Quotation Sources
1. “8 Lessons from the Telecom Mess / Bye-Bye Best Effort” Business Week, August 13, 2001
2. “BSS Mediation Market Report”, Marcus Evans, August 2001
3. “IP Mediation: System Selection and Functionality Requirements”, Billing World, October, 2001
4. “Mediation Device Requirements for GPRS” PriceWaterhouseCoopers, August 2001
5. “Multi-Service Mediation White Paper”, The Gartner Group, September 4, 2001
6. “OSS Integration: Stepping Stone to Flow-Through Provisioning” Billing World, August 2001
7. “Terra Incognita” Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Telecom Media Networks (TMN) Practice, August 2001
8. “The Future of Wireless – Delivering Next generation Services”, Ovum May, 2001.
9. “The Mediated IP Data Battle Strategy: Divide and Conquer, or Partition and Store?” Billing World, July 2001
10. “The Role of Mediation in Billing and Customer Care: Have We Found the Critical Piece of the Convergence
Puzzle?” The Yankee Group, September 12, 2001
11. “You are ---and so are lots of other people.” Sharon Cleary, The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2001.
12. The Future of Wireless – Delivering Next Generation Services”, Ovum May, 2001
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