Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC User Manual

Alcatel-Lucent 5750 Subscriber Services Controller
Integrated Subscriber and Services Control for Alcatel-Lucent’s Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture
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On-demand subscriber self-service portals and network-policy auto ­generation allow service providers to minimize operational costs by employ ing a flexible, “zero-touch” service-delivery model that caters to indi vidual subscriber preferences and evolving service needs.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC reduces operational transformation risks and the costs of introducing new network architecture and services. Its modularity and flexibility enable deployment in phases, allowing service providers to satisfy initial service-deployment requirements while investing in a future-safe plat ­form that can be leveraged to scale
VoD, migrate toward IMS, support emergency systems for IP telephony, introduce mandatory law systems for Internet service, etc.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC also provides a graceful subscriber migra ­tion from best-effort services delivered using the legacy broadband remote access server (BRAS) network to EIS on the Alcatel-Lucent TPSDA. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC removes the need to duplicate back-office sys ­tems by centralizing subscriber and policy management for both TPSDA and the legacy BRAS on one plat ­form. Modularity and proxy functions also minimize legacy-network config ­uration changes and enable a smooth transition to centralized operations.
Triple-play service delivery — blend ­ing voice, video and data services in an integrated service bundle — is a generational leap that carries with it certain challenges.
• Today’s Internet service-delivery networks are optimized for flat-rate, best-effort commodity services. With the advent of triple play, high-revenue services such as inter ­active multimedia applications, VoIP, VoD and broadcast TV (BTV) become the dominant network­design drivers. These services place unprecedented scalability, reliability, flexibility and QoS requirements on the IP-network infrastructure.
• New user devices such as residen ­tial gateways (RGs), IPTV set-top boxes, IP phones and gaming con ­soles are being intro duced in the digital home network and must be managed and con trolled. Fiber-to­the-node (FTTN) and fiber-to-the-
Challenges and Opportunities of Triple-Play Service Delivery
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user (FTTU) access technologies, a shift from ATM to Ethernet-based service aggregation, IP/MPLS serv ­ice routing, IP multi cast, and on­demand session-admission con trol are driving oper ational support requirements for which legacy systems were not designed.
• While transforming to a converged, multiservice IP infrastructure, ser ­vice providers need to leverage and migrate strategic assets from the installed base of TDM voice and high-speed Internet (HSI) services to effectively up-sell existing sub ­scribers to a triple-play offering. This migration needs to be non­disruptive for the service provider and transparent to subscribers by allowing legacy service features to be seamlessly ported to the next-generation network (NGN) infra struc ture while minimizing operational impacts and costs.
Beyond a profound network transfor ­mation, a centralized and reliable subscriber-management and policy­control infrastructure is required to enable millions of triple-play sub ­scribers and end-user devices to securely access and use network-based applications, services and content with assured quality of experience. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC is purpose-built to address these needs. The system enables service providers to be optimally positioned to success ­fully conduct network and service transformation to converged triple­play service delivery and unlock its full revenue potential.
A Whole New World of Services
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The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC allows service providers to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) with the rapid creation and deployment of innovative triple-play services, enabling end users to package these services in personalized bundles. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC facilitates the introduction of new services (e.g., IPTV and VoD) and the evolution of traditional HSI services to EIS with support of dynamic bandwidth management and per-application QoS control. This allows service providers to enhance their value proposition by delivering
a superior user experience for Internet video, gaming and multi media applications. The migration of legacy voice services to NGN and the introduction of IMS­based services are other strategic areas of innovation for which the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC provides an evolution path for key control elements.
Figure 1 shows the key role the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC plays in admin istering control over subscribers and user devices, application services, and network resources.
Figure 1. Centralized Administration and Policy Management with the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC
SDM Order Entry Provisioning Assurance Billing
Subscribers User Devices
AAA, IPAM
RG
EAP/RADIUS/DHCP DIAMETER, XML
5750 SSC
Network
Access
Control
Flexible Policy Management Framework
(Subscribers, Network Resources, Service Policies)
(CLI, SNMP, COPS, XML/SOAP, etc.)
Northbound
OSS Interfaces
Dynamic
Policy
Control
Network Interfacing
Service
Admission
Control
Application Control
Self-Care
External
AAA
Servers
NGN/IMS
Application
Servers
WiMAX
xDSL
GPON
BSAN
Broadband
Service
Access
Node
BSA
Broadband
Service
Aggregator
BSR
Broadband
Service Router
Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture
IP/MPLS
Optical Core
IPTV
Middleware
Enhanced
Internet Services
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The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC provides centralized management control and a data repository for:
•Subscriber administration —
Creation and management of subscriber accounts, user profiles and device profiles
Service administration — Creation
of service profiles and triple-play services bundles
Network-policy administration
Administration and configuration of per-subscriber and per-service resource policies in the end-to-end network
The flexible policy-management framework of the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC uses this information for three key policy decision functions:
Network access control
Authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA ) for eligible subscribers and user devices to provide access to network-based services, applications and content, with the support of 802.1x EAP, RADIUS and DHCP. The Alcatel-
Lucent 5750 SSC provides full flexibility to attach user devices using a range of wireline and wireless-access network technolo ­gies, with support for IP address assignment and management (IPAM) and the setting of appropri ­ate security and QoS policies in the network. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC supports the ETSI TISPAN network attachment sub system (NASS) specifications, pro viding a unified network access- control solution for both IMS and non­IMS service environments.
Dynamic service control — Dynamic application of network policies, based on various triggers such as service or change requests from customer self-service portals, network events, timer events or operations support systems (OSS) (e.g., customer care ad billing). This control allows service providers to support dynamic service or band ­width upgrades, offer try-and-buy service specials, redirect subscribers to a captive portal in case of non­payment or virus infection, etc.
Service admission control
Assurance that sufficient resources are available in the network to ensure proper throughput guaran ­tees (QoS) for the duration of the session. While resources for always­on services such as basic HSI access can be statically provisioned in the network, resource allocation for session-based services such as VoD is done dynamically for each request. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC also enables IMS-based services by supporting the ETSI TISPAN access resource and admis ­sion control function (A-RACF).
Through its many open interfaces, the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC coordi ­nates and integrates information and control flows among the subscribers and user devices, OSS, application­control infrastructure, and end-to-end network to streamline operational processes associated with service delivery in real time.
Try-and-buy, evening and weekend specials — The ability for subscrib ­ers to try services or boost service levels for a limited amount of time, or to introduce off-peak usage rates based on parameters such as usage time, traffic volume or specific con ­tent. This not only invites subscrib ­ers to try new value-added services with minimal commitment, but also encourages service usage during off-peak hours to better utilize network investments.
Comprehensive usage control and accounting — Flexible usage options and billing schemes to address different market needs using detailed subscriber-level reporting and real­time billing data.
Putting subscribers in the driver’s seat — empowering them to create a more personalized and interactive experience using self-service sub scrip ­tion and service-selection portals — provides a better user expe rience while significantly reduc ing service providers’ operational costs.
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Service Velocity and Mass Customization
Process integration and automation enable the efficient delivery of services on the massive scale that occurs in carrier networks. In the past, service providers made large investments in dedicated service-delivery tools and processes that are becoming increasin ­gly cumbersome and costly to main ­tain. With the advent of triple-play service delivery and the need for ongoing service differentiation and innovation, the operational challenges of catering to the individual needs of millions of users without incurring dramatic increases in costs or process ­ing times for customer care and sup ­port take center stage. These two issues of mass customization and service velocity require a solution that transcends traditional “cookie­cutter” approaches to process integra ­tion and automation.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC brings all the interdependent control ele ­ments and aspects of triple-play serv ­ice delivery together in an integrated, policy-based control solution. Using a policy-based operational model, the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC enables a zero-touch operational deployment model, allowing users to choose the services and options they want and delivering them without manual intervention by customer care or support personnel. This approach
provides the flexibility needed to address the following market opportu ­nities for triple-play service delivery, combining an enriched user experi ­ence with operational cost savings and increased revenues:
Triple-play packages and tiered services — Complete, competitive and personalized service bundles that merge voice, video and data with one-stop shopping conven ience and easily adapt to evolving needs.
Self-service portals — Portals that allow subscribers to directly manage their accounts and service subscrip tions and temporarily or perma nently upgrade service levels. This reduces customer-care costs while giving subscribers the service they want.
Application-aware QoS — The dynamic (versus static) allocation of network resources driven by user and service needs, enabling high­quality video and multimedia applications and optimizing resource utilization. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC can be deployed in com ­bination with deep packet inspec ­tion (DPI) engines to control policy enforcement of per-application QoS, security and bandwidth, and deliver EIS for secure peer-to-peer networking, online gaming and streaming Internet video and voice.
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Key Features and Benefits
Centralized Management of Subscribers, Services and Resource Policies
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC pro ­vides a highly scalable and flexible policy-management framework that enables centralized and dynamic control over subscribers, services and network devices. The platform manages an integrated repository of subscriber account information and user credentials, user device profiles, service profiles and network resource­policy definitions. This information is externally accessible through open interfaces to allow integration with external subscriber data-management systems, such as IMS home subscriber service (HSS), and the service-control functions of application middleware (e.g., IMS application servers or IPTV middleware).
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC base product contains a broadband policy server that acts as a centralized policy­decision and orchestration point for the end-to-end access, aggregation and IP transport network, evaluating on-demand subscriber requests for access to network-based services and content.
The dynamic assignment of IP address es to user devices is controlled with predefined static or dynamic
address pools that are managed using DHCP or RADIUS (combined with the DHCP or RADIUS server con ­troller module or external servers). These same network-access protocols or element-management system (EMS) plug-ins for multitechnology and multi ­vendor network integration can be used to coordinate the real-time deploy ment of service-control policies and enable dynamic, on-demand policy modification.
Subscribers may trigger these modifications (e.g., dynam ic service selection or upgrade) using a self­service web portal based on:
• Service-metering policy events (usage metering and triggering package)
• Application or network events (e.g., VoD session request, DPI virus detection alert)
• Timer expiration (e.g., end of service trial period)
With service components, subscribers can mix and match video, voice and Internet service packages and create personalized triple-play service bun ­dles. These capabilities give service providers many options for simply and cost-effectively creating differentiated, and user-centric services in a simple and cost-effective way.
Integrated Network-Access Control and User-Device Authentication
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC provides subscribers and end-user devices with a single point of access to network-based services, content and applications. The product supports the full range of DHCP, RADIUS and 802.1x EAP authentication methods, enabling maximum operational flexibility with complete coverage of connectivity options and the security needs of such digital home­network devices as RGs, IPTV set-top boxes, IP phones, PCs, game consoles and 802.1x wireless devices. Supporting both basic and enhanced subscriber management with Alcatel-Lucent’s TPSDA combined with any mode of oper ­ation, the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC also enables the consolidation of subscribers and services using the current mode of operation based on traditional multi ­vendor BRAS systems under a common AAA solution. New enhancements offer a seamless evolution and integration path to an ETSI TISPAN-compliant IMS service-delivery environment, with the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC fulfilling the role of the NASS.
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Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC can there ­fore offer a full implementation of the a2, e2 and e4 interfaces in the NASS.
IEEE 802.1X EAP/RADIUS SUPPORT
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC enables the authentication and configuration of user devices such as RGs that require EAP and 802.1x wireless access points such as WiFi. Legitimate RGs can be preconfigured with a certificate that is authenticated via the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC prior to authorizing access at the dig ­ital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) or aggregation node.
RADIUS AAA SERVICES
Legacy HSI-infrastructure consoli ­dation and migration to Alcatel­Lucent’s TPSDA is supported using a fully featured, highly scalable and extensible RADIUS authentication server, with support for standardized as well as multivendor RADIUS attrib ­ute configuration on legacy BRAS systems. RADIUS support includes change of authorization (CoA) for mid-session policy changes, to facil ­itate dynamic bandwidth man gement and on-demand service upgrades.
INTEGRATED DHCP SERVER WITH STANDARDS-BASED INTERFACES
The DHCP server allows the manage ­ment of IP address pools and can, with the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC, per ­form policy-based authentication, IP address assignment, and subscriber­profile configuration based on DHCP options 82 and 67. The system keeps track of IP leases for established sub ­scriber and service sessions using a high­speed, real-time database that can be replicated over redundant servers.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC can also interwork with existing DHCP servers in relay mode and is fully capa ble of fulfilling the role of net ­work access configuration function (NACF), as defined in the ETSI TISPAN architecture standards. A built-in a2 reference interface allows subscriber information to be shared with third-party systems or complementary Alcatel-Lucent TISPAN/IMS products. A functional enhancement is available for the DHCP server module, enabling it to provide the connectivity location function (CLF) with support of the e2 and e4 reference interfaces. The
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Dynamic Bandwidth Management and Usage Accounting
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC allows service providers to differentiate and evolve from basic HSI-access commodity services. With traditional flat-rate, “all-you-can-eat” Internet services, subscribers often think they are paying too much for a service without the guarantee that sufficient bandwidth is provided when needed. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC combats this issue by enabling dynamic, mid-session policy modifications based on subscriber- or application­initiated bandwidth requests, usage metering, and accounting functions. The system’s design enables the introduction and enforcement of specific volume, bandwidth and usage quotas (e.g., for peer-to-peer Internet applications, to create differentiated service subscriptions and apply application-usage quotas).
Volume-metering functions keep track of consumed resources on a per-subscriber and per-service basis and can dynamically trigger session QoS or bandwidth policy changes when thresholds are crossed. Alternatively, users can be redirected to a subscriber portal to buy more bandwidth capacity or upgrade a service. As a result, end users have more control over their service experience, with the option to pay per usage rather than lock themselves into a fixed band width tier that may not meet their budget or application requirements.
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On-Demand Service Admission Control
VoD and IMS services introduce the need to enable deterministic QoS guarantees for latency, jitter and pack ­et loss. To address this need, the Alcatel 5750 SSC optionally supports service admission control (SAC) for VoD and QoS-sensitive IMS applica ­tions, thereby ensuring a reliable and consistent quality of experience for VoD services by preventing the over ­booking of network resource capacity during periods of peak demand.
For non-IMS applications, the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC offers a flexible API to make band width reservations. IMS applications can use an ETSI TISPAN-compliant Rq interface to address the Alcatel­Lucent 5750 SSC in the capability
of the A-RACF. The SAC function is implemented as a logically cen tral ­ized policy-decision point, with full awareness of the first-, second- and third-mile net work topology and resource states to ensure that suffi ­cient resources are available at all critical bottle necks in the end-to­end network.
Sophisticated bandwidth-allocation and arbitration policies can be enforced on links, per forwarding class, and on individual services that share a forwarding class. This ability opti mizes service revenues that can be derived from installed network capac ity while ensuring that overall service quality is maintained with a fair allocation of shared bandwidth among services.
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Subscriber and Service Usage Accounting
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC inte ­grates accounting capabilities for service usage. The system contains an accounting module that correlates and aggregates accounting infor mation from various sources, such as per­service subscriber statistics from the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM). Service providers can therefore offer usage-based HSI service options. An optional format ­ting and reporting back end supports flexible data-formatting options to enable the export of revenue data to external billing systems.
Figure 2. ETSI TISPAN Architecture and IMS Infrastructure
Lawful Intercept
Many countries mandate that service providers provide a secure interface that allows law enforcement agencies to intercept and monitor the Internet activities of subscribers sus pected of criminal activities. A new module pro ­vides a secure access inter face, allow ­ing service providers to lever age the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC’s subscriber IP-address and network-location knowl edge for lawful inter cept sys ­tems. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC Lawful Intercept Notification Server is preintegrated with the Alcatel­Lucent 1357 Unified Interception Suite, enabling ETSI compliance with government regulations.
ETSI TISPAN/IMS Support
IMS services present a strategic oppor ­tunity for the migration of legacy PSTN voice subscribers, applications and infrastructure to an NGN infra ­structure. Revitalizing and lowering the cost base of the voice-services infra structure, IMS also enables serv ­ice providers to tap new revenues with the introduction of a new gener ation of wireline or converged wireline/ wireless multimedia communi ca ­tion services.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC pro ­vides two key components defined in the ETSI TISPAN architecture standards, offering an easy expansion path into the world of IMS, NGN and fixed-mobile convergence, as shown in Figure 2.
5750 SSC
IMS SCF
Gq’ Rx
PDF
MPLS Core
Network
VoD SCF
GxIa
GGSNA-BGW
Ia
I-BGW
Access
Network
Peer
Network
VoD
e2
Master Policy Repository
Context Data
SPR
IPTV SCF
Gq’
Policy
NACF NASS
e4
Policy
Access
Network
PDF
Rq
A-RACF
Re
RCEF
Rq
Aggregation
Network
Policy
IPTV
Support for standards-compliant reference interfaces — e2, e4 and Rq — enables service providers to easily integrate the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC in a lar ger IMS context, with the following functions:
e2 reference interface — Interface
to external service control functions (SCFs), allowing the query of sub scriber and user-device state infor ma tion maintained by the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC NASS function.
e4 reference interface — Used inter nally
between the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC NASS and resource and admission control sub system (RACS); also enables inter facing with external RACS functions.
Rq reference interface — Allows
interworking with external policy decision functions (PDFs) in the IMS service-control layer. For example, Rq can be used to inter face to a proxy call session control function (P­CSCF) to support band width management for IMS-based services.
ETSI TISPAN-compliant support of the NASS and A-RACF — Support for NGN/IMS service delivery on Alcatel­Lucent’s TPSDA.
ETSI TISPAN Rq, e2 and e4 interface support — To integrate with an IMS CSCF, PDF, SCF or external RACS.
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5750 SSC Slave Controller
Regional Locations
Central Locations
Load
Balancing
Failover
5750 SSC Slave Controller
5750 SSC Slave Controller
5750 SSC
Slave
Controller
5750 SSC
Master
Controller
Primary
Database
5750 SSC
Slave
Controller
5750 SSC
Slave
Controller
5750 SSC Master Controller
Secondary Database
Figure 3. Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC Server and Database Redundancy
System Reliability and Scalability
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC soft ­ware can be deployed on a wide range of single and multiprocessor server platforms to optimize scalability, and 1+1 or 1+n server/database redundancy provides protection against server or database failure (see Figure 3). The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC scales with service providers’ needs as they add sub ­scribers and serv ices and expand the network footprint.
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The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC enhances TPSDA with IMS support capabilities to expand service provider business with fixed-mobile converged services.
The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC provides an integrated control solution that enables service providers to cost-effectively introduce differentiated and flexible service packages, addressing all individual user needs for broadband Internet access, personal communication, television and multimedia entertainment. The system helps deliver the full breadth of today’s non-IMS wireline services — including HSI, IPTV, VoD and VoIP — and enables the introduction of new innovative IP multimedia services with minimal integration cost, time and risk.
Alcatel-Lucent’s TPSDA and the Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC help service pro ­viders to bridge the worlds of fixed and wireless broadband services and deliver an enhanced, seamless user experience of blended triple-play services on any user device. The Alcatel-Lucent 5750 SSC provides an operational support environment that is ideally suited to conducting the network transformation needed for triple-play service delivery.
Bridging the Fixed and Wireless Broadband Service Worlds with Enhanced Triple Play
www.alcatel-lucent.com
Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein. © 2007 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. WLN1103070811 (09)
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