GRX – LTE – VoLTE – RCS
IPX: Enhance your
International BusinessMichael VAN VEEN, SAP
WASL WG, April 25-26, 2017
Public
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SAP Digital Interconnect simplifies complex digital transformations
SAP Digital
InterconnectSAP
$16 trillion of consumer purchases worldwide
use SAP systems
98% of the top 100 most valued brands in the world are SAP customers
76% of the world’s transaction revenue
touches an SAP system
87% of Forbes Global 2,000 companies are
SAP customers
1000+ mobile operators connected
About 1 billion messages are processed daily
Top 3 social media and messaging ecosystems
99% of all mobile subscribers reached
200+ countries reached
500+ enterprise customers
Global e-mail delivery
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Combining SAP GRX/LTE roaming
footprint
and PCCW Global IPX Voice/VoLTE
capabilities
in a single IPX domain
Announced at WAS, 28 March 2017
IPX Consolidation with PCCW Global
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IPX: textbook summary
Technical
A single connectivity model for all interconnect
and roaming services
Three connectivity models
1. Bilateral transport
2. Service aware transport
3. Service aware hubbing
Secure, private, …
Classes of Service, end-to-end KPIs, …
Etc.…
Commercial
Transparency of costs
Break-down: transit plus termination
Cascaded of payments:
SP-A → IPXP → (IPXP →) SP-B
IPX Provider cascade termination charge (and split
transit rate)
Service Provider B keeps termination charge
End-to-end SLAs
Etc.…
In essence: a global network to enable your international roaming and interconnect business
But should you not expect more ?
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Primary use of IPX today: Data Roaming
Customer expectation:
When abroad, get the same services and
functions as enjoyed at home
• Same high data speeds
• Same voice quality
• Same functionality
• Same charge
Operator challenges:
Establish global LTE roaming footprint
• Market is doing well
• Rate at which routes are opened is
accelerating
Steering of Roaming
• Best rates and best quality
• Indiscriminative, or based on user profile
• Should steering be LTE compliant ?
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Upgrading the Steering platform to LTE
Some good reasons:
1. Latency of roamer registration is likely to increase – unless it is managed by a steering platform,
2. Interoperability with CSFB: calls may not come through or UE may not properly reconnect to LTE
after the call
3. LTE registration might be recognized by steering platform as ”manual selection”: User Equipment
may not be steered at all
Negative impact on revenue and user experience
→ Upgrade steering platform: invest, or go cloud ?
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IPX cloud-based alternative: Steering as a service
HPLMN
HSS
VPLMN A
DEA MME
IPX
domain
S6
S6
SAP DRADEA
VPLMN B
IPX peer
DRA peer
steering
platform
DEA MME
S6
GUI
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VoLTE Roaming: do we need that ?
Plenty of reasons to launch VoLTE
Spectrum efficiency, technical efficiency, add-on
features (RCS)
But the first thing that users will notice is
improved call quality
Extending VoLTE to roamers delivers
Consistent quality of service
Consistency in functionality i.e. end-use services
Cost saving to the operators
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VoLTE Roaming: S8HR or Local Break-Our (LBO) ?
Do you want the media to be sent
back to you (as data traffic) so you
can route the call yourself ?
From an interconnect point of
view:
Backhaul traffic charged as data
traffic
Are you happy for the visited
network, your roaming partner, to
route the call for you?
From an interconnect point of
view:
Similar model to VoLTE interconnect
S8HR LBO
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S8HR: voice calls routed by the Home network
Implication: substantial latency on roamers’ regional calls
Panama Roamer in AsiaData traffic Voice call
Regional Voice call
HPLMN
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LBO: voice calls routed by the Visited network
Panama Roamer in Asia
Voice call
Regional voice call
VPLMN
No latency issues – but requires IMS interconnect between HPLMN and VPLMN
Only relevant for no more than 15% of the calls !
At least 85% of the calls need to be routed to home network / home continent (GSMA study)
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Industry consensus: S8HR home network routing
S8HR has some significant advantages over LBO
Less complexity, and is quicker and cheaper to implement
Existing billing tools can be used
Critical point: in S8HR the IPX is not aware of the service layer
IPX value-add: advanced QoS reporting
IPX Provider should not treat VoLTE S8HR traffic like normal data roaming traffic
Can provide extensive monitoring and reporting tools
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VoLTE interconnect – main challenges and how to address them
Scaling up
Establishing IMS NNIs is a lot of work
Using the IPX hubbing model will help to speed
things up
Connect once to reach many
Nothing new
Operators already use Voice carriers to route
traffic to other networks
Operators already use IPX hubs for MMS and
Diameter
Establish call routing
Establish call destination
Circuit-switched networks use telephone numbers
IP networks use service specific Universal Resource
Identifiers (URIs)
Is B-number VoLTE-active at time of call ?
Technical solution: ENUM / MNP
Business decisions
Who makes the routing decision ?
How to make your network discoverable for
inbound calls ?
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Traditional model
Iterative Querying of ENUM database
MNO A queries ENUM databases until
solution is found
MNO maintains routing decision
Pro: control over cost to 3rd party
Con: need resources to set up and maintain
ENUM infrastructure
ENUMT1/T2
IPXENUMT1/T2
enum
MNO A IPX Transport Hub A
enum
MNO B
ENUMT1/T2
Iterative, MNO «A» perspective
1
1a
2
2b
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Alternative model: IPX as ENUM engine
Recursive Querying of ENUM database
MNO A only queries IPX ENUM database
If needed, IPX queries 3rd party ENUM
databases on behalf of MNO, until solution is
found
MNO maintains routing decision
Pro: no need to set up and maintain ENUM
infrastructure; still retaining routing decision
Con: ENUM query cost to IPX provider
ENUMT1/T2
Retains Routing Decision
IPX( ENUMT1/T2 )
MNO A IPX P Hub
enum
Local or remote ENUM Data Bases available to IPX P
ENUMT1/T2
1a
1b
2a
ENUMT1/T2
ENUMT1/T2
2b enum
2c
2d enum
2f enum
If unresolved :
If unresolved :2e
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Full service IPX
MNO A hands off all traffic to IPX provider
IPX provider performs ENUM queries and
makes routing decision
Iterative, IPX Provider full Hub Perspective
No ENUMoperated / available
Full call handover
IPX P( ENUMT1 / T2 )
MNO A IPX Provider full HUB Function
Call
MNOs In Country B
ENUMT1/T2
2a
ENUMT1/T2
ENUMT1/T2
2b enum
3a
3b enum
4b enum
If unresolved :
If unresolved :4a
Routing if resolved
Routing if resolved
Routing
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Dealing with inbound traffic
Standard model
Advertise your network gateway address
Offer access to your ENUM database
IPX Provider as inbound VoLTE proxy
IPX Provider manages your inbound ENUM
queries and inbound calls
Standard
Model
IPX
Proxy
Main considerations
Cost & Network Security
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Business considerations
Person-to-Person communication
Many free apps can do what RCS can do
Maybe not as good – but they are free of charge
→ Tough business model
Application-to-Person
Companies always looking for better ways to
communicate with their clients
→ RCS as a business opportunity
IPX RCS interconnect: Interconnectivity between operators in the secure environment of the IPX
IPX Business Partner: Aggregator of A2P traffic
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IPX: Enhance your international business
IPX is the de facto platform for international roaming and interconnect traffic, but it can be
much more than that
Functions like cloud-based steering advanced QoS reporting can improve your data and VoLTE
roaming business and delivery a better service experience to your customers
VoLTE and RCS interconnect can be made secure and cost-efficient when routing tasks are
performed the IPX provider
Thank youContact information:
Michael VAN VEEN
Global Sales Director IPX
m: +393 484 090 668