- From Network to IT and vice versa: Policy Control & Charging and the pricing case -

 It is common in the telecom industry to talk about the IT & Network convergence, while sometime it would be more precise to talk about collision.

Interestingly enough, DPI-Policy enforcement platforms are precisely at the cross road of IT and network influences. On one side, there is a vertical integration with the control plane, with radius, policy servers and charging/billing. IT has a clear influence, and the industry has seen in the last months a couple of acquisitions and mergers in the SPIT (Service Providers IT) ecosystem that highlight the growing influence of BSS actors in this area.

On the other side, or should we say, on the orthogonal side, the user plane with routers, switches and other equipment is traditionally managed by Network teams. As far as DPI and Policy Enforcement are concerned, Network Equipment Providers for Mobile carriers and 3GPP future releases show a target architecture with DPI-PCEF features in the GGSN or PSDN GW. This is in “the roadmap”.

Today, “crossing the chasm” means the convergence of IT and network teams in order to have a holistic approach towards users and tap the full potential of Internet usage. This implies a common terminology. Did you notice that Network staff usually talks about bandwidth and capacity? Concurrently IT talks about users…

When Vedicis announces a full Policy Control & Charging Solution with FTS, the purpose is not only to enforce smoothly profiles and policies defined in a PCRF in the network. It is not simply about technology. The purpose is to bring an integrated solution that creates a common view about users from service packages to user bandwidth allocation and charging. An integrated solution means a single pricing based upon users, with their average traffic and usage.  Finally for IT and Network teams, this single user pricing gives a common basis to discuss investments and ROI with a customer centric approach.