© richard mironov, 2002. all rights reserved. [email protected] 650.315.7394 diameter real-time...
TRANSCRIPT
© Richard Mironov, 2002. All rights reserved.
650.315.7394
Diameter Real-Time Credit Check and
AccountingDiameter Acceleration ProgramInterlink Networks
15 April 2002Rich Mironov
650.315.7394
Agenda
Speaker introduction RADIUS billing and credit problems iPass RADIUS model Diameter and Credit Control Carrier uses Summary
650.315.7394
Rich Mironov
Principal, Mironov Consulting Strategic product planning Clients in wireless networking, AAA, VPN services, security
appliances
Early product driver at iPass Senior Director, Product Management Software, billing, quality of service, security, VPN integration
Silicon Valley alumnus HP, Tandem, Sybase
650.315.7394
Disclaimer
One man’s opinion Not representing clients or previous employers Your input and observations requested
650.315.7394
RADIUS Billing History
Ground-breaking for its time Simple service authorization
“Approved” or “Rejected” Assumed reliable NAS behavior
Exactly one START, one STOP No local time
Stretched beyond its design goals Wholesaling Remote billing systems Complex pricing and rating Prepaid services Simultaneous session control
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650.315.7394
RADIUS Billing Challenges
START and STOP are stateless Retry mechanism creates duplicates Which users are currently connected? Validity of unmatched STOPs
Workarounds for local time unreliable Prepaid services
Pre-approve a specific amount Real-time rating based on complex factors
Third party transactions Service price inquiry, balance check Refunds
“!?#*”
650.315.7394
iPass Model
World’s largest roaming provider 15,000 POPs in 150 countries
iPass SettlementSystem
iPass Global Transaction Centers
iPassRoamServer
Provider’sNAS
iPass NetServer
Customer’s AAA
650.315.7394
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iPass RADIUS Challenges
Millions of STARTs, STOPs ~ 200 carriers, PTTs, ISPs Duplicates, unmatched records,
overlaps
Batch overhead Matching, cleaning, de-duplication
No unique identifier Concurrent session identification Refunds and adjustments Potential prepaid overruns REFUND
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INVOICEINVOICE
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INVOICECREDITBLOCK USERREBILL
NEW CHANNEL
650.315.7394
Diameter Credit Control Proposal
Harri Hakala, et al, March 2002http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-hakala-diameter-credit-control-02.txt
Proposes Diameter application for real-time cost and credit control
Client Applicatio
n
Service Consum
er
Service Element
Accounting
Server
Credit Control Server
650.315.7394
New Credit Control Capabilities
Session-based (reliable Diameter transport) Service Element sends (expected) cost Credit Control Server approves, reserves sufficient credit Service Element confirms final charge amount Credit Control Server may do partial refund
Service Element
Credit Control Server
request 2 min @ €1.25/min
€2.50 credit hold
final total €2.25
€ 2.25 charge, €0.25 released
650.315.7394
Prepaid Service Opportunities
Many ways to avoid “last session overrun” model
Pre-priced services Reserve exact credit amount
Renewable session services Re-authorize every 90 seconds
Typical transaction price Exact amount in final submission
One-time events charged in one pass E-purchases, reservations, refunds, flat-rate
transactions, directory assistance, driving directions…
650.315.7394
More Creative Pricing
Service price inquiry and “shopping engines” Allows complex rating and third party service delivery “How much per unit for service-type for customer-ID
via channel during time-of-day and day-of-week?” Which remote storage service is lowest cost for 13 GB,
max 10 days, encrypted, 2 MB/sec throughput?
Complex pricing Frequent Flyer: HighUseGroup2 get first minute free Bundling: Use service B this week and service A is free Specials: 20% off next one or 35% off next six Third parties subsidize service, buy on spot market
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Benefits
More revenue, fewer write-offs Industry estimate of 2% - 5% unbillable sessions Recover $250k/year on $10M product line Confirm customer’s credit status before providing service
Price inquiry allows many new rating options Volume purchasing across providers by end customer Time-of-day by service by customer Vary wholesale terms by reseller by service type Auction-style bidding
Concurrent users (Diameter) Improves tracking of simultaneous sessions “Shared” accounts with enforceable limits
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Finer-Grained Policies Possible
Four subscriber groups Corporate Platinum, corporate Gold, consumer Silver (usage-
based), flat rate consumers Session limits, simultaneous users
Platinum: unlimited, up to 20 simultaneous sessions Gold: 4 hours weekday, unlimited weekend, single session Silver: 1.5 hours M-F 7AM-7PM, else 3 hours. 2 simultaneous Flat rate: 20 min M-F, 3 hours weekend, single session only
High speed access (ISDN or 802.11b QoS) Platinum: full bandwidth at all times Gold, Silver: 80% of max Mon-Thurs…
Need rich set of policy tools
650.315.7394
Challenges
Finished applications Current IETF draft not yet approved, implemented
Adoption First uses will be internal to single carrier networks Upgrade NAS, AAA, accounting, billing, SLAs Third party services require adoption of interoperable
applications
650.315.7394
Summary
Reaching limits of RADIUS accounting Diameter and Credit Check expand possibilities for
service delivery, rating, billing Adoption and deployment are next phases
© Richard Mironov, 2002. All rights reserved.
650.315.7394
Diameter Real-Time Credit Check and
AccountingDiameter Acceleration ProgramInterlink Networks
15 April 2002Rich Mironov