The Prepaid Press - July 15, 2008 - (Page 18) CALLING CARDS July 15 · 2008 - 18 The STaTe of PrePaid Technology by Ken Osowski From the Mailbox: Responses to The Prepaid Press Reader Questions Opex (Operating Expense). IP platforms also scale gracefully without ‘lumpy’ costs and additional Capex (Capital Expenditure). Most importantly, because IP platforms separate hardware from software, they can offer a very well-defined software platform that enables advanced customizations and ongoing service feature innovation and evolution, which TDM can’t. And they can enable this continual optimization without disrupting services. What value-add does an SBC have? Session Border Controllers are essential for IP networks, whether the service provider deploys their own or uses a partitioned SBC within their carrier’s network. The SBC aggregates IP traffic, and securely connects the service provider to their SIP carrier for IP peering to handle TDM call terminations and minutes. So it’s essential for securing the border and providing good hand offs of calls to other routes and carriers. Is IP Capex slightly higher and if so, why? Initial IP Capex can be slightly higher and it involves two components, the hardware and the software. When you look at legacy platforms, dedicated hardware consolidates the software and performs only one function, so costs have dropped over time, and are now being forced down as part of the sun setting process. What you get with IP is a different way of assessing costs, which takes into consideration both the superior levels of service flexibility noted above, and far more inexpensive scale-up. Depending on the service provider’s equipment choices, they may end up with slightly larger initial Capex, but they will have far more capacity and ability to support larger numbers of concurrent calls. Also, the new quad servers introduce even more horsepower into the equation, enabling 4-6K calls on a single server, further boosting price/performance of IP. A TDM platform just can’t match that “software density” to support the same numbers of calls in the same footprint. What performance (call processing) considerations are there when migrating to IP? Basically, the IP performance considerations are all upside. IP enables more processing power with COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) hardware and standard operating systems vs. TDM. IP allows service providers to control well over 250,000 calls on single node, without monitoring disparate databases and building special code for scaling. As always, thanks for your questions and comments. We’re currently creating and distributing a poll of prepaid service providers and their business and market interests. If you’d like to participate, please drop me a line. Ken Osowski is the VP of Marketing & Product Management at Pactolus Communications Software. He can be reached at keno@pactolus.com. I started writing this column over a year ago with two goals in mind: helping you stay informed, and taking the opportunity to learn from your questions, concerns and inquiries in return. Over the last 3 months you’ve emailed several questions, many of which also came up in this week’s “Time to Ditch The Switch?” webinar (The Prepaid Press subscribers were specially invited). Here are some of those questions and answers from the webinar panel, which included myself, Brian Partridge, Director of Enabling Technologies for The Yankee Group, Erik K. Linask, Group Managing Editor of TMC, and Tom Regan, Manager of Customer Service for Pactolus. What are the biggest potential ‘gotchas’ in migrating to IP? The most relevant one is the simplicity of the network, especially during the initial deployment phase. IP networks are comprised of multiple components that you have to assemble, rather than an out of the box, all-in-one solution. This means that the prepaid service provider needs to be careful about interoperability issues, ensuring that software interacts, and making sure that What specifically can IP platforms do that TDM platforms can’t? IP platforms allow prepaid service providers to leverage SIP peering for sharply lower minute rates, and significantly lower Netex (Network Expense) and IP platforms allow prepaid service providers to leverage SIP peering for sharply lower minute rates… their service levels are fully meeting their QoS (Quality of Service) objectives. All of these are easy to do, providing that the prepaid service provider works with an experienced, well-informed vendor whose domain expertise and application insight will help guide them through the selection and migration process. R ® • • • • CONSULTING Stored Value Cards Prepaid Phone Cards VoIP- IXC & CLEC Projects MVNO & Wireless Projects What features DON’T I need in an IP platform? As static as this business can seem, it’s really in a state of constant evolution and is perpetually re-aligning features to changing market requirements. That means that it’s probably very helpful to look at the features you’re now actually using – both subscriber and operational – and cull the ones you don’t need. What you’re really going to be leveraging with IP isn’t just the ability to drag forward old features, it’s having the agility and velocity to add features and customizations. Calling Cards in Brief Answering customer demands for a “greener” product, Pentagon has introduced the PentaGONE GREEN card. Using renewable energy, this card is printed on environmentally-friendly plastic, which is produced from agri-based resins, and is both biodegradable and compostable (certified by ASTM 6400-04). “We’re proud,” says VP/Technical Director, Glenn Caron, “to be able to offer our customers an earth friendly choice for all their phone, membership and gift card needs. We believe this product will become the new standard for plastic cards.” When disposed of in an industrial composting facility, the plastic will biodegrade and return to its basic organic elements in 180 days or less. The inks and varnishes are also 100% biodegradable. Pentagon – www.pentagon.ca COMPLIANCE • 499A & 499Q Filings • Bill Analysis & Disputes: USF, TRS, NANPA, LNP & FCC Charges • Payphone DAC: Compliance & Audits • Prepaid Phone Cards • Stored Value Cards • Telecom Taxes & Fees • VoIP Compliance resources will enhance NBS’ capacity to provide traditional facilities based telecom, advanced IP voice communications and IT services as well as managed network services and high-speed internet connectivity. NBS – www.nbsvoice.com FCC 214 - $150 plus costs IXC & CLEC Certi cations Money Transfer Licenses Satellite & Wireless Licenses REGNUM GROUP, INC., MIAMI, FLORIDA T: .. ·F : .. E: @ . . . Flat Fee with order of IXC or CLEC License. (Non-dominant carriers only) NBS has announced the purchase of the operations of Simlab.net, a New Jersey based managed service provider (MSP) that specializes in deploying managed private Wide Area Networks, Internet and VoIP services. The synergies available through such an acquisition became evident over time as Simlab and NBS had been providing services to each other for the past five years. Continuing efforts to expand and grow its influence in the VoIP and data services sector, NBS will add Simlab’s resources to its already significant abilities. The combined VoluBill, a supplier of real-time charging, control and usage policy management solutions for data and content services, has signed three major new software license and deployment agreements for its Charge it DCP (Dynamic Charging Platform) product. The new software license agreements are with the Zain Group in the Middle East, Excelcomindo (XL) in Indonesia and a third unnamed operator in the South East Asia region. By bringing the rating and charging function right up to the network edge with seamless integration over the boundary, VoluBill says it makes advanced charging a true real time operation, with real time access to the vital product, pricing and customer information required to accurately charge customers at the very instant they are using a service. Charge it enables operators to charge for, as well and as control access to, data and content services in an open and flexible way, whilst eliminating revenue leakage and fraud windows in the process. VoluBill – www.volubill.com http://www.regnumgroup.com http://www.nbsvoice.com http://www.pentagon.ca http://www.volubill.com http://www.regnumgroup.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.