This is a critical
factor in maintaining an IMS network; not just for performance management but also
for revenue assurance and security.
For example, if you are providing music downloads, provided through a third-party
partner, your monitoring system should be able to capture the entire transaction. This
includes the signaling from the handset requesting the download (the HTTP session
accessing the Web portal and selecting the link to download the music file). The File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) session used to download the music file from the content provider??™s
server through your network to the handset should be captured to ensure successful
delivery. The entire transaction should be captured on the same system so that
you don??™t have to deploy multiple systems to trace each part of the transaction.
It is simply not enough to see one portion of the network. As an operator, you must be
able to monitor everything that occurs in the network; from the handset to the service
delivery platforms, back to the handset. This is especially important as the revenue
chain shifts from minutes-of-use to content purchases.
There are many different functions in OSS/BSS. I will cover the basic functions, but
there are most likely many more within your own networks that need to be updated to
support SIP. The basic functions are as follows:
?– Network monitoring
?– Billing and revenue assurance (collection and mediation)
?– Service management
Network monitoring has traditionally entailed connecting probes to signaling links
within the SS7 network and collecting the SS7 signaling messages for analysis.
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