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01/06/12 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com 1

Scaling Diameter

Acme Packet

Scaling Diameter for LTE

• Introduction• What is Diameter and Why it is important• What it means for operators and vendors• Market projections• Diameter signaling controller requirements • Role of Centralized Routing Databases

Introductions

• Greg Collins, Exact Ventures

• Kevin Mitchell, Acme Packet

• Glenn Marschel, NetNumber

What is Diameter?

• Next generation signaling protocol, replacing SS7

• Exchange subscriber profile data between fundamental core network elements/systems: – IMS– EPC – Billing systems– Roaming exchanges

Why is Signaling & Diameter Important?

• Since LTE has a relatively flat architecture, the core network is more exposed to signaling, than with 3G, which has an RNC.

• Network outages and/or poor performance– Increases churn– Destroys brands

Diameter Signaling Controllers• New product category, encompassing DEA,

DRA, protocol translation, other functions.• More efficient, scalable, and reliable Diameter

networks• Many dimensions for growth:

– Subscribers– Voice and Data usage/sessions– Dynamic billing and policy applications– Roaming

Diameter Signaling Controllers• Multi-billion dollar market opportunity

– New product category– Major technology transition– Continued strong organic growth in signaling

• High degree of vendor activity– Very early days; Accelerating RFI/RFP activity– Much more entry and consolidation to come

Diameter signaling controller requirements

Kevin Mitchell@mitchellkpkmitchell@acmepacket.com

Oct 2012

Attachment/registration

Authentication & authorization

Mobility/tracking

Authentication & authorization

Diameter Underpins the Monetization of LTE

Data and voice sessions

QoS & charging

Roaming

AAA, charging & QoS

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

Diameter signaling pain points

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

Home service provider

Visited service provider

Interoperability

Overload & downtime

Network opacity

Network complexity

Outages are costly – to top line and to brand

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

All Diameter interfaces & applications• Authentication

• Location/mobility

• QoS

• Charging

• LTE data and VoLTE roaming

Provides critical signaling controls• Security

• Traffic & congestion control

• Interoperability & mediation

• Routing & aggregation

• Reporting & analysis

• Fulfill key standards• RFC 3588 Diameter agent

• 3GPP Diameter Routing Agent (DRA)

• 3GPP Subscriber Location Function (SLF)

• GSMA Diameter Edge Agent (DEA)

Introducing Diameter Signaling Controllers

IPX/roaming

hub

Service provider

Visited service

provider

HSS, OCS, PCRF nodes

MME, PDN GW, GGSN, CSCF, AS

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

DSCs enable successful transition to LTE & IMS

• Lowers total cost of ownership

• Accelerates time to market

• Mitigates risk

Where DSCs are needed:Core and Edge

• Voice roaming• Data roaming• Services

federationInterconnect

• Aggregation & routing

• OCS proxy• HSS/AAA proxy• PCRF proxy

Core

IPX

MNO MNO

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

Service providerHSS, OCS,

PCRF nodes

MME, PDN GW, GGSN, CSCF, AS

Universal Diameter interface support

Signaling security

Overload and congestion controls

Programmable L3-L5 interworking

Dynamic and scalable Diameter routing

Multi-vendor, end-to-end service management & operations

Key requirements

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

Simplifies provisioning – eliminates silos

Highly scalable: 100s-1000s of millions of entries

Support for dynamic, complex routing decisions

Integration with legacy routing databases

Extensible – SIP, multi-vendor, future applications

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Scaling DSCs with Centralized Routing Databases

DB query

SOAP/XML

Diameter

SIP

MobileFixed

RoutingDB

Registries

LCR LNP OSSDiameter

clients

Diameter servers

xCSCF

Wholesale/IPX

MNO

STP

PSTN

Oct. 2012

Role of CRDB in NGN

Centralized Routing and Database Services

Common Data – Multiple Applications• SIP Services, DIAMETER services, TDM services

– All need access to shared/common routing data

• Common Routing Data– Subscriber data – Portability-data– Code-range data– MVNO data (Virgin Mobile)– OTT data (GoogleVoice)– Carrier-ENUM data (IMS endpoints)– Routing policy data (Route-list for destinations)

• Internal routing• Trusted interconnect partner routing• Least cost interconnect routing

CONVERGED TDM & IMS NETWORK

Connection Management Services

Network Edge Services

CRDB

SBC

Local provisioning

Web, File, SOAP/XML

Referral query

ENUM, AIN, M

AP, INAP

Common Data – Multiple ApplicationsPortability Data

Code-Range DataSubscriber Assignment Data

Carrier-ENUMInterconnect Trunk-Group Profiles

MVNO destinationsOTT destinations (Google Voice)Geographic destinations (LCR)

Local Routing Policy

pCSCFC4/C5

MULTIPLEDATA

SOURCES

MULTIPLEDATA

SOURCES

S-CSCFDRA

AS/TAS

(ENUM, SIP, INAP, MAP, CAP, WIN, DIAMETER)

STP

MGCFMSC DEASMS/MMS

Key Issues To Consider• In-Switch Routing Model is Costly

– Provision common data into every switch– Learn routing database model for every switch– Staff routing experts for every switch– Fix routing inconsistencies across multiple platforms

• CRDB Model is a Strategic Decision– We’ve been living with cost of in-switch routing model for past 100-

years. Obviously we can continue.– Switching to a centralized model requires some strategy vision to avoid

the costs of the old model.– Introduction of IMS-Core and DIAMETER services are opportunity to

switch to a centralized model• Reduced network complexity (lower operating costs)• Faster service deployment (faster revenue generation)• Enhanced routing options (improved quality)

Blog Post: The Next Generation Signaling Core for LTE and IMS

White Paper: Scaling Diameter in LTE and IMS

Oct. 2012 Acme Packet | www.acmepacket.com

Additional Resources