IP Softswitch, VoIP & NGN Deployment | ControlSwitch™ CS-USC User Services Core

Worldwide deregulation has increased the level of competition, forcing service providers to find new approaches to attract and retain profitable customers. The new competitive environment and the rise of new modes of Internet communication have reduced the profitability potential of the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). To succeed, service providers must overcome the technical and financial hurdles of moving to increasingly efficient packet-based technologies and services while still leveraging existing circuit-switched voice networks.

In order to maintain a competitive edge via reduced costs and increased service revenue, service providers are looking to transition their current legacy voice services to an IP softswitch and IMS based solution. This transition requires an open-standards packet-switched network that enables rapid deployment of new revenue generating multimedia services from a unified switching core and services platform, thus reduced operating costs. Veraz's CS-USC is the perfect platform to achieve this and beyond.

CS-USC supports delivery of N-play multimedia services on one switching core. This allows service providers to bundle different services for their subscribers into one package and one overall service delivery platform. Service providers can re-use their existing switch core and BSS/OSS systems to roll out new services, thus reducing capital investment and streamlining operations. Bundled services result in streamlined operations such as services provisioning and single billing, reducing subscriber churn and improving ARPU.

CS-USC includes a service delivery platform based on programmable, configurable and dynamic loading of XML service scripts. This empowers our customers to design, develop, deploy, activate, and tailor their user service offerings on the fly, thus gaining control of their market differentiation.

Service Capability Interaction Manager (SCIM) enables interaction at the service layer between Veraz and third-party service platforms and multiple protocols, including Internet-based and IMS based applications. Veraz is a market leader in the delivery of composite services and services bundles, enabling new services delivery across different applications and streamlining internal operational tasks and IMS and Web Services Integration.

Veraz realizes that transitioning legacy networks to IMS is non-trivial, and that during this transition period, support for hybrid environments is critical. To ensure a smooth transition, the CS-USC supports SIP/IMS and AIN/IN CS2 call models and the interworking between them. The Veraz IMS compliant softswitch, Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and media gateway product family enable the coexistence of both networks and flawless migration of service provider customers to a full IMS network. Service providers can migrate each of the various network layers at their own pace.

The open-standards, multi-protocol, multi-services platform from Veraz enables new services to be implemented dynamically throughout the entire network; that is, service providers can deploy new services and solutions without the overhead of running multiple disparate networks or incurring downtime to reconfigure the network. Any additional processing capacity is added using Common Off-the-Shelf (COTS) computing platforms.

CS-USC is a highly scalable system designed to work effectively for small and large deployments. For smaller or greenfield deployments, Veraz provides a turnkey solution including an Administrative GUI and HTML Self Care Portal. CS-USC also provides programmatic interfaces including TL1 and SOAP/XML for the integration into the service provider's existing OSS/BSS for streamlined operations.

CS-USC enables the rollout of Web Commerce applications and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) services to end users on the same switching core. This represents a significant service differentiation for service providers that are transitioning to IMS.

Carriers can significantly increase users’ loyalty when providing customers with nomadic and mobility capabilities. Based on an IMS core, CS-USC enables a user to change to different devices connected to one or more access networks to gain access to their services. User services can be reconfigured to be suitable for a determined network and device. CS-USC enables users to change networks through a shutdown and restart of an active session through service continuity and mobility when supported by the Access Systems.

Service providers can expand their services offerings as the CS-USC incorporates a ubiquitous service delivery architecture to allow for a consistent service experience, regardless of the user’s access network (Multimedia over DSL, Ethernet/Metro, Ethernet/Fiber, WiMAX, WiFi), across a variety of access devices (softclient, IAD, IP Phone, POTS phone), with enhanced service access from Web Portals. Service provisioning is also consistent, regardless of the access network.

CS-USC supports existing enterprise and service providers’ administrative hierarchy and commercial reseller models. Resellers can act as service providers with a subset of resources and subscriber base within the overall licensed services and capabilities. A rich set of administrative roles allows utmost flexibility for service providers in managing users’ activities and development of user acquisition strategies. Service providers have control over the services they deliver to end users through flexible services packaging supported by the SDP and through control of services on the user devices by the Device Manager.

CS-USC provides security features that enable service providers to prevent malicious attacks on their network and ensure that their customers’ assets are fully protected. Some of the features include topology hiding, access control lists, “denial of service” attack prevention, and NAT traversal to avoid NAT/Firewall complications.

The CS-USC provides a true best-of-breed solution set for meeting all of the requirements of the complete next-generation multi-tiered reference model. The CS-USC design allows for high scalability in granular increments -- yielding an optimized solution for both initial and large-scale deployments. For instance, a service provider can choose to centralize system management, billing subsystem, service logic and routing, and distribute call control and signaling to various regional centers. This ensures that an additional investment to support traffic growth is aligned with revenue growth without confronting scalability limits to their business.

Regardless of the number of elements or locations across which the service provider’s network is distributed, Veraz provides a single point of management for configuration, provisioning, and system monitoring, including realtime alarms, performance statistics, end-to-end call trace, and traffic reports.

Various elements of the Veraz CS-USC can be distributed geographically for scaling and redundancy, i.e., a primary element may be located in a city and can be backed up by the secondary element located in a different switching center even in a different city.

CS-USC has proven openness at all interface layers, enabling ControlSwitch customers to rapidly interoperate with new vendors of media hardware and application servers.

The Veraz Element Management System (EMS) offers a dashboard into the service provider’s network. However, for service providers with a large investment in existing backoffice systems including provisioning, billing, and network operations, CS-USC can be deployed with backoffice traffic monitoring systems that require call status tracking in realtime. Alternately, this application can also be used by operators wishing to record traffic patterns in realtime.

CS-USC delivers Service Broker functionality based on a unique and open architecture such as MSF and 3GPP. This provides realtime transactional integration for a significantly reduced integration cost, and it provides a bridge to web services. The architecture also enables: the integration of best-of-breed service applications from multiple vendors; services scalability from 1-to-N application servers; service execution in a heterogeneous environment (i.e. SIP, INAP); co-existence and quick delivery of services between legacy and NGN; new service business models delivery and fast services customization without the burden and costs involved in forklift upgrades.

ControlSwitch™ User Services Core (CS-USC)