11/15/11

What are the ingredients for a market leading Diameter router?


We've often asked what makes the Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller the market leading Diameter solution. We put our heads together and here's why we can proudly say that the Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller (SDC) is the market’s first and most mature Diameter routing solution, available since early 2009.
  • Traffix SDC is the market’s most deployed Diameter routing solution with over a dozen live deployments in Tier 1 carriers.
  • Traffix SDC is the market’s only full Diameter routing solution combining DRA, DEA and IWF that goes far beyond the industry standards’ requirements.
  • Traffix SDC offers far more Interworking functions between Diameter to Diameter, and between Diameter to legacy protocols than other vendors.
  • Traffix SDC is the only solution that can run on multiple IBM, HP and Sun hardware flavors with unparalleled performance in each.
  • Traffix SDC is the only dedicated Diameter routing platform (not HSS or PCRF….) in the market.
  • Traffix SDC has unbeaten performance and value/cost ratio – 4 times more than the closest competitor.
  • Traffix SDC supports over 50 Diameter interfaces – it’s the only solution that fits all Tier 1 Diameter needs.
  • Traffix SDC is the only market solution supporting Active/Active configuration.
  • Traffix SDC includes WideLens™, a network analysis, statistics and management solution.
  • Traffix SDC includes a full Diameter test suite.
  • Traffix SDC is the solution of choice for vendors such as Ericsson, ATOS, NSN, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Bridgewater and others.
  • Traffix has the largest work force dedicated to Diameter in the industry.
  • Traffix has demonstrated unbeaten commitment to our customers for the best support, flexibility and satisfaction.

11/6/11

The Brain Surgeons of Diameter

I’ve been hearing something from the field that doesn’t quite sit right. I’ve been hearing that developers of 3G voice protocol SS7 can easily segue into developing good solutions using 4G Diameter protocol such as real-time intelligent routers and reliable load balancing solutions.

Diameter was selected by the industry standards bodies such as 3GPP to be the one protocol that replaces all legacy protocols (MAP, LDAP, Radius, and others) because of its extreme flexibility to support data, services, and applications.
On the flip side, that side flexibility does cause management difficulties. Software engineers who work with Diameter find that after years of intense programming, they can succeed in creating cutting-edge solutions. They understand why Diameter is the chosen protocol to support all the data dominated services and applications of 4G. They know how to configure the code to ensure a 4G network’s reliability to send the right message to the right location 100% of the time. They can design intelligent routing and load balancing solutions to give the network unlimited scalability and 100% reliability.

However, this expertise took some years to perfect and a dedicated team focusing solely on the Diameter protocol and here’s the secret. It took the experience of deploying the Diameter protocol stack in operators around the world to learn the deep secrets and tricks of the trade of working with Diameter. And that is why today, Traffix is the only company that can call themselves true experts in the field of Diameter. That is why there is still is no other vendor offering a full Diameter solution of routing, load balancing and gateway solutions with the added value that Traffix Service Delivery Controller (SDC) offers.

I would say that for others to claim, “we know signaling” based on past experience with SS7 or other legacy protocol is equivalent to a heart surgeon leading a team to operate on a brain without the back up of a brain surgeon.

My son wants to have laser eye surgery to correct his myopia. Am I going to look for a doctor who recently went to a short course to perform the operation, or am going to ask everyone I know for their references, and then select the surgeon who has been doing this operation for years with the highest rate of success? I think the answer is obvious.
Susan Becker

9/11/11

Town Planning/Network Planning

Imagine, if a small town consisting of one main road, a few arterial roads, with the traditional system of traffic lights, one day woke up to a new reality. Overnight its town residents were shocked to see thousands of new business moving in, bringing with them many more residents, constant commercial activity and of course, higher volume of traffic.
Well, if you think that the first tactic the town should take is to add more houses and streets, think again. Just adding these elements without the necessary infrastructure would just burden the congestion and confusion, and slow down the efficiency of the town.
It’s the same in a network. Just adding bandwidth or spectrum can’t solve today’s sudden surge of more activity of thousands or hundreds of thousands of smartphone subscribers using their mobile data for most of their awake hours.
The town needs to revamp its traffic light system just as the network – now filled with new elements and fragmented from the data strain and new services, needs to upgrade its signaling – and in 4G this means its Diameter signaling.
And what does upgrade mean? Well let’s go back to our town. If once upon a time, the town’s planners would have simply added more streets and traffic lights, today, they would consider a wireless traffic management system that operates according to the traffic flow for maximum optimization. So too, network architects must include Diameter solutions such as DRAs for intelligent, dynamic routing, load balancers for unlimited scalability and network control, and Diameter gateways for instant connectivity with legacy elements.
You wouldn’t want to live in a town whose infrastructure hasn’t kept up with its growth would you? Well, why would you subscribe to a carrier whose network hasn’t kept up with your needs for reliable and fast service?

6/7/11

Diameter for the Technically Challenged

"Diameter for the Technically Challenged" or what should you know about Diameter signaling protocol even if you are not a telecom engineer

During your average day how many times do you speak and text on your smartphone, browse on your tablet, or work on your laptop? In the evenings you may read ebooks, message from your mobile, or check your Facebook. You go on vacation and watch videos while waiting for the plane, take pictures with your phone and send them to friends back home. You leave your Skype or instant messenger open on your tablet so you can always see who among your contacts are available for a quick chat. In short, you are always connected to the network, meaning that the mobile operator's processing behind the scenes to support all your data communications is always on, and has now become a critical factor in the performance of the mobile network. And the trend to use the mobile network for data is growing in leaps and bounds.

Your Mobile Network is Moving to IP
To support your constant use of the Internet through your cellular network, many mobile operators are beginning to empower networks with Internet Protocol (IP) using technologies generally referred to as 4G such as IMS, LTE and others. These technologies require systems to communicate with each other using what is known as a signaling protocol that can support millions of subscribers accessing the Internet all the time. The particular signaling protocol selected by the telecommunication industry is known as Diameter.

Diameter: The Chosen Standard
The organizations who set international standards in the telecommunications industry (such as 3GPP and ETSI) have selected Diameter as the signaling protocol to enable operators to support 4G services. Why is that? Because Diameter is the only signaling protocol that is capable of managing the constant flow of core network signaling in an environment that has become far more complex with many more network elements needed to fulfill the promises of 4G.

Fulfilling the Promises of LTE Mobile Technology
Today's mobile network operator growth is fueled by data traffic; voice has become secondary. On paper, LTE and other IP-based technologies have made amazing promises to provide you with high quality mobile broadband, sophisticated services, tiered charging plans, better roaming schemes, and much more. However, the implementation of all these promised services takes place in the core network and requires signaling that will tackle the challenges for cost-effective connectivity, scalability and control in the section of the network known as the control plane.

Data Brings Complexity
In fact, your mobile operator's focus on data will only increase in time as the initiatives of voice over LTE (VoLTE) take hold, introducing a network where everything is data. Access to data, meaning the web, video, SMS, MMS, presence, and VoIP, requires constant Diameter signaling with a spaghetti of network nodes and interfaces. Network operators need a configuration of Diameter solutions such as gateways to connect the new elements to the old ones, load balancers for scalability meaning to grow the network easily, and routers that ensure the messages from each subscriber go to the right places – in short, to support communications that are becoming increasingly complicated.

Using Diameter to Control the Complexity
Once upon a time, network signaling was activated when a phone call began and ended when the speakers hung up. Now this scenario is no longer relevant, and your mobile operator has far greater challenges to solve. The only way for your mobile operator to successfully manage its network is to focus on its control plane with the right signaling products that provide cost effective, robust and intelligent solutions.

You may not be a telecom engineer, but you want to know that your network will respond rapidly to your request the next time you pick up your tablet or mobile device. Whether you want to send a message home, check your train's timetable or download an app, you want fast communications. In summary, it doesn’t take a telecom engineer to understand that almost everything you do with your mobile device depends on data communications, and that the right Diameter solution is the key ingredient for high performance, excellent quality of service, and advanced service enablement.



** The above was written by Susan Becker Traffix Marketing manager, I thought it’s a very good “Diameter for dummies” articale