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
Showing posts with label Diameter Routing Agent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diameter Routing Agent. Show all posts
4/6/10
Diameter Routing Agent – some open questions
I want to share with you, some thoughts from discussion I recently had about DRA.
Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) was defined in 3GPP Release 8 and onwards to manage PCRF interaction in LTE networks.
PCRF’s are becoming more advanced, with more and more Diameter interfaces, more and more traffic – and pretty soon you need someone to manage this Diameter signaling Spaghetti – this is where DRA comes into the picture – putting some order and management.
We come across some first implementations of DRA’s (and yes we in Traffix have one also, and it’s fully 3GPP Kosher) in the market this days.
Some questions that come to mind from some first glimpse in DRA implementations:
DRA – Standalone / or part of the PCRF
We see both scenarios in the market, some of the DRA’s out there are part of the PCRF, maybe it’s because they were rolled out by the PCRF vendors, I personally believe there is a huge advantage for a standalone installation, separate from the PCRF.
DRA – Diameter Proxy agent / Redirect agent
DRA was defined to act as both Proxy or Redirect agent, there was a big argument if both functionalities are needed, and eventually it was decided not to decide.
I personally think giving the DRA the flexibility to act as both Proxy or Redirect is great, and makes sure that networks could be tuned and set with much less limitations.
DRA - Interconnectivity
Policy in 3GPP is all about freedom – either in roaming scenarios or in interconnectivity between different technologies.
However with DRA being supported only by 3GPP for mobile networks, how will it integrate to the RACS in the TISPAN wireline networks for example ? will it affect fixed mobile convergence scenarios ?
Diameter Routing Agent is still new functionality, both in the specifications and much more in the market, with first glimpses mainly in LTE labs and with half backed products that only resemble DRA from a far.
I personally believe DRA will become a central component in LTE and future telecom networks, getting more and more responsibility and functionality, but this days are still far and many standardization open issues need to be closed before that.
Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) was defined in 3GPP Release 8 and onwards to manage PCRF interaction in LTE networks.
PCRF’s are becoming more advanced, with more and more Diameter interfaces, more and more traffic – and pretty soon you need someone to manage this Diameter signaling Spaghetti – this is where DRA comes into the picture – putting some order and management.
We come across some first implementations of DRA’s (and yes we in Traffix have one also, and it’s fully 3GPP Kosher) in the market this days.
Some questions that come to mind from some first glimpse in DRA implementations:
DRA – Standalone / or part of the PCRF
We see both scenarios in the market, some of the DRA’s out there are part of the PCRF, maybe it’s because they were rolled out by the PCRF vendors, I personally believe there is a huge advantage for a standalone installation, separate from the PCRF.
DRA – Diameter Proxy agent / Redirect agent
DRA was defined to act as both Proxy or Redirect agent, there was a big argument if both functionalities are needed, and eventually it was decided not to decide.
I personally think giving the DRA the flexibility to act as both Proxy or Redirect is great, and makes sure that networks could be tuned and set with much less limitations.
DRA - Interconnectivity
Policy in 3GPP is all about freedom – either in roaming scenarios or in interconnectivity between different technologies.
However with DRA being supported only by 3GPP for mobile networks, how will it integrate to the RACS in the TISPAN wireline networks for example ? will it affect fixed mobile convergence scenarios ?
Diameter Routing Agent is still new functionality, both in the specifications and much more in the market, with first glimpses mainly in LTE labs and with half backed products that only resemble DRA from a far.
I personally believe DRA will become a central component in LTE and future telecom networks, getting more and more responsibility and functionality, but this days are still far and many standardization open issues need to be closed before that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
