Mediation Gets Active

Enabling Convergent Content

Implementing new content billing systems without disrupting existing voice services and voice billing operations is one of the greatest challenges of prospective GPRS wireless service providers. SONOFON, a mobile and broadband operator in Denmark, sought to implement an adjunct service management and rating system to handle content transactions without disturbing the existing infrastructure, which competently handled voice billing.

Working with an active mediation solution provider, SONOFON created the Content Provider Access module. The active mediation solution and the CPA module provide a platform from which SONOFON creates, manages, and bills innovative content services using a single interface. Using an active mediation solution, SONOFON launched the Content Provider Access (CPA) Program. SONOFONs CPAs are satisfying the publics appetite for news, sports and entertainment services, while SONOFON profits from everincreasing subscriber services and revenue-sharing agreements are managed by its active mediation solution.

Initial subscribers enjoyed the SMS-based ringtone and logo services and the attractive price point, creating a strong new revenue stream. While strong growth is forecast for these services, SONOFON has more innovative offerings ready. New services include a Big Brother themed diary as well as sports highlights delivered via streaming video. Whether content is delivered to their PCs (for example, streaming video) or their mobile phones (for example, the diary via SMS), subscribers are billed on a single account.

The Evolution of Mediation

Birth of Mediation. Prior to 1983, true mediation, as we understand it today, did not exist. Most voice switches created 9-track tapes that were manually delivered to a billing system. With divestiture in 1984 and the subsequent formation of the seven regional Bell operating companies, the need for a generalized mediation system was born. The RBOCs had their own customers now and a mediation system became an absolute requirement to capture and process mission-critical billing data.

Some vendors took a strictly hardware approach, offering automated message accounting transmitters (AMATs) located next to a switch and emulated a tape drive. Other mediation vendors wrote software systems that collected data from the switch or AMAT, but the purpose of the mediation software was merely to condition the data in preparation for uploading to the billing system.

Modern Mediation. With the introduction of digital switches into the PSTN in the late 80s and early 90s, usage data collection became more standard. AMATs were still popular because of legacy network elements, but X.25 networks were the pack mules for data delivery. Standardization on the X.25 transport became the focal point of usage collection. This resulted in the maturation of AMA, as well as the proliferation of proprietary CDR formats from major network vendors.

By the late 90s, functionality within mediation software applications had increased in sophistication. Error detection became error detection and correction. Distribution of data to non-billing entities such as network management, traffic management and force management became common.

By the mid-90s transportation of data using IP over a packet network was widely accepted. Using the Internet was free and network vendors who built equipment gave very little thought to creating a carrier-grade usage recording mechanism. When it became apparent that the Internet was becoming a ubiquitous transport, network providers needed a way to measure individual usage so that consumers could potentially be charged. This began the short-lived era of IP Mediation.

IP Mediation. IP network elements (routers, gateways, gatekeepers, etc.) were never built as efficient usage recording devices. As such, in the period from 1997-1999, mediation vendors attempted to fix this void. However, the quality of the information gathered was severely less than that collected for voice networks. In June 1999, an effort was made to rectify this situation by the formation of the Internet Protocol Detail Record Organization (IPDR.org). Hundreds of vendors participated in activities that would result in the design of a standard Internet protocol detail record.

By 2000, mediation continued to grow for voice, but data mediation was still in its infancy. The projected market for IP mediation didnt mature until the acceptance of broadband wireless communications. Convergence became the focal point of mediation system developments from 2000 to 2003. Convergence dictated the ability to process data from any network, collate disparate data sources, and create rich billing events that described the complete user experience.

Active Mediation. During 2003, the next evolution of mediation occurred. Usage mediation now takes two approaches: post-event and pre-event mediation. Post-event mediation is the act of collecting, processing, and distributing usage data after a user experience has been completed. It can be batch or real-time, but it is still post-event.

New mediation systems must be actively involved in the user experience  during session startup, for the duration of the session and at session teardown. Pre-event mediation is required to provide subscriber profiles and financial information to the network elements (e.g. how much money is in a prepaid account).

Mediation systems will continue to evolve to meet market needs, but active mediation systems will be the prominent platforms through 2005 because of the continuing trend in convergent networks and the prepaid service imperative.