Ride the Wave: Managing the Diameter Signaling Tsunami
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Accelerating data growth and some high-profile network outages make it clear that “business as usual” is no longer sufficient in the Diameter Signaling Network. We are seeing unprecedented growth in Diameter Signaling requirements resulting from the concurrent increase in available bandwidth (as the networks shift towards LTE) and the increase in the number of subscribers using smart devices (with ever more demanding apps).
During this webinar Ulticom will describe how incorporating a Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) will enable the mobile network operators to mitigate the impacts of the Diameter Signaling Tsunami, as Advanced Policy Management and Charging solutions are brought to bear on this unprecedented growth.
Tags; Archive, data, signaling, telecoms.com, Ulticom
Q&A
Thank you for all your questions today. This webinar is now closed. You can contact Kim direct by sending your questions to marketing@ulticom.com
Do you anticipate that IPSec will be used for diameter in roaming scenarios?
The signaling between network operators will have to be secure and IPSec and/or TLS is the choice we see being utilized today.
Why would you separate the DEA from the central router ?
There are unique requirements associated with the DEA. Security is obvious and you do not want to enforce the policies for your central router as you do for your DEA.
Several companies are “jumping” on this DSC story (like Tieto, Traffix, Diametrix…). Will it be a purely interim solution or is it a long term development like STP (as Conor mentioned).
Since Diameter is defined as the control protocol for authentication, policy and charging it will be one of the key protocols in the 4G signaling network. This is most likely going to stay for a substantial period of time, just like SS7.
Where would you best place the Diameter function? Inside each LTE network or outsource this to specialized external Service Providers ?
Thanks,
Phil.
Each Mobile Network Operator will need at least one DSC within their core network. This is required to provide key functions such as authentication, charging and policy, itis too risky to have this function outsourced. That being said, other functions such as roaming could be managed and outsourced through a hub provider.
Thank you, Kim!
Are network engineering groups prioritising signalling management as a key element of their developemnt plans in the light of increased capacity demand?
The typical scenario is that Mobile Network Operators have started out with all network elements being connected using a meshed topology. With the increased demand, it is clear that strategy isn’t going to work and they have started engineering and building Diameter signaling networks.
Thank You. Will You send out the slides of the presentation ?
Please send a request to marketing@ulticom.com
Hi, a lot of interfaces are not defined yet. So how do you comply to Sy or S9.
The Ulticom DSC is built to be as Diameter interface agnostic as possible. For most Diameter interfaces we only rely on the mandatory Diameter parameters, in some cases that is not possible such as policy like the S9 interface.
The DSC plays a similar role in NGNs as the STP did for legacy networks I take it. What are the main differences of the DSC when compared with the STP of older networks
In SS7 routing and congestion management are specified by ITU or ANSI. Where as for Diameter a key function like congestion is not specified and must be supplied through DSC functionality.
Is it possible to have a copy of the slides?
What are the busiest diameter interfaces within network of a typical IMS/LTE mobile operator i.e. is it S6a, Cx, Dx, Dh, Dw, Gy, Ro, Rf etc?
Why are these devices now refered to Diameter Signaling Controllers (DSC) while they are, as defined by the RFC’s and IETF as Diameter Routing Agents (DRA)?
DRA is used by 3GPP to define the function for IP-CAN session binding and routing in front of a PCRF. While a DSC has a broader use case scope and functionality as outlined by the analyst community.
I am building a new LTE network and I have moved all my subscribers to an HSS. Do I still need the Diameter SS7 Gateway?
Perhaps. Depends on your roaming requirements. Even if you have a ‘pure’ LTE network your subscribers will still move around into other networks and
roaming subscribers into your network will also have need to connect back to their home network. Some of this might require a Diameter SS7 Gateway.
I have a WIFI offload solution but have problems with some ‘roaming’ subscribers that do not belong to an HSS but instead to an HLR. I think
I heard you mention that the Ulticom DSC can interwork this scenario. Is it true the Ulticom DSC can convert between Diameter Wx and SS7 MAP?
Yes. The Ulticom DSC can convert Wx authentication messages to SS7 MAP and hereby retrieve the authentication vectors.
How does a DSC prevent network outages?
In error cases where something like an HSS fails or becomes congested the DSC can divert traffic to another available HSS – or if required discard the
traffic. All in all some users might be affected but the network stays up.
Is Diameter interoperability really a big deal?
Definitely. Not only are there a lot of variations of the Diameter protocol but also remember – all the different nodes are implemented toward a certain
3GPP version and even small differences might have an impact. I remember at the LTE Summit an operator demonstrated a use case where he wanted
to play with LTE and used just 2 nodes (MME and HSS). Attach didn’t work! After 2 weeks of debugging he discovered that the MME was 8.3 compliant
whereas the HSS was 8.4 compliant resulting in small difference in Diameter AVPs …. but enough to make the attach fail!