Alcatel-lucent INSTANT ZONE APPLICATION NOTE, 8614 INSTANT ZONE DATA SHEET User Manual

Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone (IZO)
R EL E A S E 2 . 4
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO is an application that enables mobile service providers to address hyper-market seg­mentation by creating attractive tariff packages based on the location of the subscriber. The Alcatel-Lucent IZO is a key software component within the Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment solution. Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment is an industry-leading, highly configurable and proven solution with deployments by 210 service providers supporting more than 400 million subscribers worldwide.
The Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone (IZO) allows mobile service providers to define key zones, such as home zones, regional zones and yield zones, to support a greater diversity of price plans for current and future subscribers. For example, when a mobile subscriber is within their home zone, the service provider may choose to apply a different rate, which translates to a fee equal to or better than their fixed-line rate for the month; when the subscriber is outside their designated zones, the standard price plan would apply. Similarly office zones can be proposed to enterprises: as enterprises may have multiple office locations, they may want to have multiple zones defined as the office zone for their employees.
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO allows service providers to support defined zones for both voice and data services as well as to support multiple zones per subscriber. Some examples of zones that could be offered are:
• Regional zones – supporting specialized tariffs for regions where fixed line penetration is low
• Home zones – targeting consumer segments
• Office zones – focusing on corporate or small-to-medium business segments
• Campus zones – addressing university students
• Special events zones – supporting zones created around stadiums, concert halls and festivals
• Tourist zones – targeting the discretionary income of roaming prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) users
• Commercial zones – combining mobile “value-call” concepts with enterprise marketing partners such as coffee shops and associated loyalty programs
• Yield zones – enabling local and dynamic yield management, with attractive tariffs at off-peaks for encouraging calls and tariffs at peaks that make network expansion economic
The definition of zones with special­ized tariff structures has demonstrated the ability to increase service usage, reduce churn and even acquire subscribers from fixed-line providers.
Features
• Home zone and Group zone
¬ Define one or more subscriber
specific zones for consumers, families and enterprises
¬ Apply discounted when calls are
performed from these subscriber specific zones
¬ Allow multiple zones per subscriber
• Regional zone
¬ Define geographical zones for
all subscribers
¬ Apply discounted tariffs when
calls are performed from these geographical zones
• Preferred zone
¬ Associate one or more pre-
defined regional zones to specific subscribers
¬ Apply discounted tariffs when
calls are performed from these geographical zones
¬ Allow multiple zones per subscriber
• Yield zone
¬ Discount is based on the traffic in
the zone, periodically calculated using current traffic data and historical data
¬ Discount info can be cell-broad-
casted in the zone (configurable option) or can be requested by individual subscribers via USSD
¬ Subscribers are notified of the
discount via flash SMS when they launch a call, as ultimate guarantee
• Geographic Number translation to implement a pseudo fixed/long distance call with tariff differentia­tion based on called-number geographical zone
• Hyper-segmentation
¬ Apply unique tariffs for voice as
well as data
¬ Several zone types can be defined
to create new commercial pack­ages such as event zone, campus zone …
• No modification of the handset required
• Simultaneous support of 2G and 3G mobile networks
• End-user interaction and provisioning
¬ Self care API (subscriber specific
zone provisioning & location/ discount inquiry) available for self care channels.
¬ Unstructured Supplementary Ser-
vice Data (USSD) self-care channel integrated in Alcatel-Lucent Instant Convergent Charging product.
¬ Service provider administrators
can create, modify or delete zones using a web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) or using batch files
¬ Database can be extended to add
parameters for zone definition and to improve zone accuracy
¬ Choice of algorithms available to
calculate the actual definition of the zones
• Open APIs
¬ Ease of integration with third-par-
ty information technology (IT) and network elements using open in­terfaces based on XML and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
• High availability
¬ High availability solution offering
active-standby configurations
¬ Geographical diversity to support
disaster avoidance and disaster recovery programs
• Extensive usage records
¬ Generation of call detail records
(CDRs) / event data records (EDRs) in operator configurable formats (ASN.1)
Benefits
• Encourages subscribers to substitute mobile services for fixed services
• Defines unique rates based on the zones associated with the given subscriber
• Defines geographically discounted calls for all subscribers
• Allows tariffs dynamically depen­dent on traffic in the zones (yield zones): peaks and off-peaks are
efficiently tracked, network utiliza­tion is optimized, congestion risk is reduced, playful offers with attrac­tive tariffs help reduce churn, gain new subscribers and increase consumption
• Simultaneously addresses consumer home zones, enterprise office zones as well as campus zones for universities
• Simplifies subscriber-zone process calculation with pre-integrated GIS by entering subscriber’s physical address
• Allows end-user query on present zone location
• Simultaneously supports both prepaid and post-paid subscribers, eliminating the need to have separate support infrastructures
• Offers open APIs for ease of integration into existing service provider environment
• Delivers flexibility to support a number of different connectors to third-party elements:
¬ Real-Time Charging/Call Control
system, for real-time location­based charging
¬ Home Location Register (HLR), for
retrieving the end-user location e.g. when Cell Id is not provided by the network or in case of called location option
¬ Network Topology Data Base, for
keeping the cell database of IZO up-to-date
¬ Short Message Service Cell Broad-
cast system (SMS CB), for the yield zone discount information broad­cast option
¬ Operation and Maintenance Cen-
tre (OMC), for collecting cell load indicators for yield zone
¬ Geographic Information System
(GIS), for enabling zone calcula­tion from physical address
¬ Operations Support System/Busi-
ness Support System (OSS/BSS), e.g. for customer care or customer self provisioning
• Ability to easily support the expan­sion and evolution of the network
Alcatel- Lucent 8614 Instant Zone – IZO | Release 2.3 | Data Sheet2
Flexible architecture
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO is a highly flexible product with a set of open APIs that allow easy integration into a service pro­vider environment (see next figure). The Alcatel-Lucent IZO consists of two main software components: the Zone Man­ager and the Zone Generator (optional).
Zone Manager
The Zone Manager contains the definitions of all zones, cells and subscribers. To apply the correct tariff plan, the zone definition information can be provided by IZO in real-time:
• Either to the an on-line charging system (in prepaid/post-paid on-line charging case)
• Or to a call/session control system (in post-paid off-line charging case) as to enrich the network CDR with zoning information that can be used by billing.
The Zone Manager is pre-integrated with the Alcatel-Lucent Instant Convergent Charging (ICC) Suite for on-line charging cases and with Alcatel-Lucent Service Interaction Gateway Real-Time Call Control (SIG RTCC) for off-line charging cases. When integrated with a third-party on-line charging system or call/session control system, the Zone Manager can be triggered either by its real-time XML API or thanks to Alcatel-Lucent SIG RTCC which can act as a proxy between the network and third-party on-line charging system.
This wide range of integration patterns allows the Zone Manager to accept requests from the network in all cases as to determine the subscriber’s zone for the purpose of rating.
If needed, the Zone Manager cell and zone data can be synchronized from operator network topology database thanks to a file interface. In addition, the Zone Manager has the ability to query the HLR to refresh the current location of the subscriber and use network information such as Mobile Station ISDN number (MSISDN) and cell identity to request the real-time zone calculation to be completed by the Zone Generator. The result is com­pared to the defined zones associated with a given subscriber.
For Yield Zone purposes, the Zone Manager also interfaces with the OMC-R as to upload cell load data (pre-integrated with the Alcatel­Lucent 9159 Network Performance Optimizer of the Alcatel-Lucent OMC-R solution) and with the Cell Broadcast system as to advertise Yield Zone discounts (pre-integrated with the MCMS Cell Broadcast solution from Intersec).
Figure 1. Alcatel-Lucent IZO suppor ting uniq ue tari ffs for multiple zones
OSS/BSS systems (configuration, provisioning,
customer care, self care (Web, USSD, IVR, ...)
XML/HTTP(s) or SOAP
CSV/FTP
MAP
CSV/FTP
SMS-CB
Call/session control and charging system
(ALU ICC, SIG RTCC or third-party system)
Zone
manager
Cells Zones Users
XML/HTTP(s)
Optional
(queried
when A or
B location
is missing)
Required for Yield
Zone (feeds
cells load
in IZO DB)
Optional
(feeds
cells and
zones in
IZO DB)
Topology DB
HLR
OMC-R
SMS CB
Optional
(used to
broadcast
discounts
to users)
Prepaid and
XML/HTTP(s)
Open interfaces.
Pre-integrated
with ALU and
third-party GMLC,
HLR, OMC and
postpaid
Pre-integrated by
ALU ICC (provisioning high
level API, customer care
and self-care channels)
Zone generator (optional)
GUIs
Instant Zone (IZO)
IT platform
Open interface.
Pre-integrated by ALU ICC
and SIG real time call control
Open interface.
SOAP
Open interface.
Pre-integrated
with third-
party GIS
system
GIS
Optional (used for
postal
address
conversion)
GSM/UMTS, CDMA, IWS, WiMAX
Alcatel- Lucent 8614 Instant Zone – IZO | R elease 2.3 | Data Sheet 3
Zone Generator
The Zone Generator performs the zone definitions that are used by the Zone Manager. To enhance the degree of accuracy when calculating the individual zones, the Zone Generator uses network parameters such as Mobile Network Code, Location Area Code, cell identity, latitude and longitude of the Base Transceiver Station (BTS), radius of the cell as well as angles of transmission. In addition, a plug-in module facilitates integration with a third-party GIS. This GIS pre-integration with the Zone Generator enables the mobile service provider to benefit from a cell identity process calculation simply by entering a physical address (street, ZIP code or postal code and city).
Integration with the Zone Generator is greatly simplified through an HTTP/ XML interface. It is important to note that the Alcatel-Lucent 8614 IZO can be proposed without the Zone Generator and can integrate with third-party zone generators through an XML interface.
Easy integration in network and OSS/BSS environment
Thanks to the open APIs (XML and SOAP) and the multiple integration schemes offered by Zone Manager and Zone Generator (see descriptions above), Alcatel-Lucent IZO can easily be integrated with both network and OSS/BSS elements. This capability allows Alcatel-Lucent IZO
• to simultaneously support multiple networks, including GSM, CDMA, GPRS and UMTS.
• to fulfil all OSS/BSS needs (provision­ing, customer care, self-care …)
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO also provides a web-based GUI for service provider administrators to allow the operator to supply any data required by IZO (cells, zones, subscribers).
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO can be de­ployed as a standalone product, leveraging its open APIs for deploy­ments in third-party component environments, or can be delivered pre-integrated with the end-to-end Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment solution, including the Alcatel-Lucent ICC Suite.
Pre-integrated Alcatel-Lucent products
• Alcatel-Lucent ICC Suite
¬ A complete, end-to-end convergent
payment solution that supports real-time rating, charging and billing for wire line, wireless, data and video (quadruple-play) and associated value-added services for prepaid and post-paid subscribers
• Alcatel-Lucent Service Interaction Gateway (SIG)
¬ A multi-purpose highly program-
mable call/session control module which can be used for IZO integra­tion in off-line charging model or as a proxy to 3rd party on-line charging system.
• Alcatel-Lucent 9159 Network Per­formance Optimizer, part of the Alcatel-Lucent OMC-R solution
¬ A powerful performance man-
agement system used by IZO to upload cell load information.
Technical specifications
Standards-based platform
• Latest IT hardware
• Solaris™ or Linux® operating system
Supported protocols and interfaces
• Internal Protocols: Distributed Processing Environment (DPE)
• APIs ¬ XML /HTTP ¬ SOAP ¬ File (csv) ¬ MAP
• Administration: Alcatel-Lucent IZO GUI
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are tradem arks of Alcatel- Lucent . All other t rademarks are the p roperty of their resp ective ow ners. The info rmation prese nted is subject to change withou t notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibilit y for i naccura cies con tained h erein. C opyrig ht © 2010 Al catel- Lucent. All rig hts reserv ed. ASG971810 0502 (0 6)
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