Alcatel-Lucent

Instant Zone
ReLeASe 2.5

The Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone (IZO) is an application that enables mobile service providers to address hypermarket segmentation by creating attractive tariff packages based on the location of the subscriber. The AlcatelLucent IZO is a key software component within the Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment solution. Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment is an industry-leading, highly configurable and proven solution with deployments by 210 service providers supporting more than 400 million subscribers worldwide.

The Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone (IZO) allows mobile service providers to define key zones, such as home zones, regional zones and yield zones, to support a greater diversity of price plans for current and future subscribers. For example, when a mobile subscriber is within their home zone, the service provider may choose to apply a different rate, which translates to a fee equal to or better than their fixed-line rate for the month; when the subscriber is outside their designated zones, the standard price plan would apply. Similarly office zones can be proposed to enterprises; as enterprises may have multiple office locations, they may want to have multiple zones defined as the office zone for their employees. The Alcatel-Lucent IZO allows service providers to support defined zones for both voice and data services and to support multiple zones per subscriber. Some examples of zones that could be offered are: Regional zones supporting specialized tariffs for regions where fixed line penetration is low

Home zones targeting consumer segments Office zones focusing on corporate or small-to-medium business segments Campus zones addressing university students Special events zones supporting zones created around stadiums, concert halls and festivals Tourist zones targeting the discretionary income of roaming prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) users Commercial zones combining mobile value-call concepts with enterprise marketing partners such as coffee shops and associated loyalty programs Yield zones enabling dynamic yield management based on local network conditions, with attractive tariffs at off-peaks for encouraging calls The definition of zones with specialized tariff structures has demonstrated the ability to increase service usage, reduce churn and even acquire subscribers from fixed-line providers.

Features
Home zone and Group zone Define one or more subscriber specific zones for consumers, families and enterprises Apply discounted when calls are performed from these subscriber specific zones Allow multiple zones per subscriber Regional zone Define geographical zones for all subscribers Apply discounted tariffs when calls are performed from these geographical zones Preferred zone Associate one or more pre-defined regional zones to specific subscribers Apply discounted tariffs when calls are performed from these geographical zones Allow multiple zones per subscriber Yield zone Discount is based on the traffic in the zone, periodically calculated using current traffic data and historical data Discount information can be cell-broadcasted in the zone (configurable option) or can be requested by individual subscribers using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Subscribers are notified of the discount by flash Short Message Service (SMS) when they launch a call (as ultimate guarantee) Geographic number translation to implement a pseudo fixed/long distance call with tariff differentiation based on called-number geographical zone Hyper-segmentation Apply unique tariffs for voice as well as data Several zone types can be defined to create new commercial packages such as event zone or campus zone No modification of the handset required Simultaneous support of 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks

End-user interaction and provisioning Self care application programming interface (AP)I (subscriber-specific zone provisioning and location/ discount inquiry) available for self care channels USSD self-care channel integrated in Alcatel-Lucent Instant Convergent Charging Suite Service provider administrators can create, modify or delete zones using a web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) or using batch files Database can be extended to add parameters for zone definition and to improve zone accuracy Choice of algorithms available to calculate the actual definition of the zones Open APIs Ease of integration with third-party information technology (IT) and network elements using open interfaces based on XML and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) High availability High availability solution offering active-standby configurations Geographical diversity to support disaster avoidance and disaster recovery programs Extensive usage records Generation of call detail records (CDRs)/event data records (EDRs) in operator configurable formats (ASN.1)

risk is reduced, playful offers with attractive tariffs help reduce churn, gain new subscribers and increase consumption Simultaneously addresses consumer home zones, enterprise office zones, and campus zones for universities Simplifies subscriber-zone process calculation with pre-integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) by entering subscribers physical address Allows end-user query on present zone location Simultaneously supports both prepaid and post-paid subscribers, eliminating the need to have separate support infrastructures Offers open APIs for ease of integration into existing service provider environment Delivers flexibility to support a number of different connectors to third-party elements: Real-Time Charging/Call Control system, for real-time locationbased charging Home Location Register (HLR), for retrieving the end-user location, e.g. when Cell Id is not provided by the network or in case of called location option Network Topology Data Base, for keeping the cell database of the Alcatel-Lucent IZO up-to-date Short Message Service Cell Broadcast system (SMS CB), for the yield zone discount information broadcast option Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC), for collecting cell load indicators for yield zone Geographic Information System (GIS), for enabling zone calculation from physical address Operations Support System/Business Support System (OSS/BSS), e.g. for customer care or customer self provisioning Ability to easily support the expansion and evolution of the network

Benefits
Encourages subscribers to substitute mobile services for fixed services Defines unique rates based on the zones associated with the given subscriber Defines geographically discounted calls for all subscribers Allows tariffs dynamically dependent on current load in yield zones defined as individual cells or groups of cells: peaks and off-peaks are efficiently tracked, network utilization is optimized, congestion

Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone | Release 2.5 | Data Sheet

Flexible architecture
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO is a highly flexible application with a set of open APIs that allow easy integration into a service provider environment. The Alcatel-Lucent IZO consists of two main software components: the Zone Manager and the Zone Generator (optional).

Zone Manager
The Zone Manager contains the definitions of all zones, cells and subscribers. To apply the correct tariff plan, the zone definition information can be provided by the Alcatel-Lucent IZO in real-time: Either to an on-line charging system (in prepaid/post-paid on-line charging cases) Or to a call/session control system (in post-paid off-line charging cases) which enriches the network CDR with zoning information that can be used by billing

The Zone Manager is pre-integrated with the Alcatel-Lucent Instant Convergent Charging (ICC) Suite for on-line charging cases and with Alcatel-Lucent Service Interaction Gateway Real-Time Call Control (SIG RTCC) for off-line charging cases. When integrated with a thirdparty on-line charging system or call/ session control system, the Zone Manager can be triggered either by its real-time XML API or thanks to Alcatel-Lucent SIG RTCC which can act as a proxy between the network and third-party on-line charging system. The Zone Manager is triggered by receiving requests from these systems and then responds in real time with the appropriate information for rating, depending on the particular zone where the calling party is (or possibly the called party). If needed, the Zone Manager cell and zone data can be synchronized from the

operator network topology database thanks to a file interface. In addition, the Zone Manager has the ability to query the HLR to refresh the current location of the subscriber and use network information such as Mobile Station ISDN number (MSISDN) and cell identity to request the real-time zone calculation to be completed by the Zone Generator. The result is compared to the defined zones associated with a given subscriber. For Yield Zone purposes, the Zone Manager also interfaces with the OMC-R to upload cell load data (pre-integrated with the Alcatel-Lucent 9159 Network Performance Optimizer of the AlcatelLucent Operation and Maintenance Center Radio [OMC-R] solution) and with the Cell Broadcast system to advertise Yield Zone discounts (pre-integrated with the Microsoft Content Management Server [MCMS] Cell Broadcast solution from Intersec).

Figure 1. Instant Zone Architecture

Optional (feeds cells and zones in IZO DB) Optional (queried when A or B location is missing) Required for Yield Zone (feeds cells load in IZO DB)

OSS/BSS systems (conguration, provisioning, customer care, self care (Web, USSD, IVR, ...) XML/HTTP(s) or SOAP

Open interface. Pre-integrated by ALU ICC (provisioning high level API, customer care and self-care channels)

Topology DB HLR OMC-R SMS CB

CSV/FTP MAP CSV/FTP XML/HTTP(s)

Zone manager

Zone generator (optional)

SOAP

GIS

Cells Zones Users

GUIs

Open interface. Pre-integrated with thirdparty GIS system

Optional (used for postal address conversion)

Instant Zone (IZO) Optional (used to broadcast discounts to users) Open interfaces. Pre-integrated with ALU and third-party GMLC, HLR, OMC and SMS-CB IT platform Open interface. Pre-integrated by ALU ICC and SIG real time call control

XML/HTTP(s)

Prepaid and postpaid

Call/session control and charging system (ALU ICC, SIG RTCC or third-party system) GSM/UMTS, CDMA, IWS, WiMAX

Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone | Release 2.5 | Data Sheet

Zone Generator
The Zone Generator is an optional functional entity which can perform the zone definitions (links between cells and zones) that are used by the Zone Manager. This function can be used: On-line (the links between cells and zones is determined in real-time when the Alcatel-Lucent IZO is queried, according to current network topology) Off-line (the links are created at zone creation time in the AlcatelLucent IZO database) only available using XML provisioning API in current release To enhance the degree of accuracy when calculating the individual zones, the Zone Generator uses network parameters such as cell identity, latitude and longitude of the Base Transceiver Station (BTS), radius of the cell, and angles of transmission. In addition, a plug-in module facilitates integration with a third-party GIS. This GIS pre-integration with the Zone Generator enables the mobile service provider, when provisioning subscriber specific zones, to benefit from a cell identity process calculation simply by entering a physical address (street, ZIP code or postal code, and city). It is important to note that the Alcatel-Lucent IZO can be proposed without the Zone Generator. In this case, the links between cells and zones must be explicitly provided at provisioning time, typically in the network topology files that could be generated by a third-party zone generator.

Easy integration in network and OSS/BSS environment

Thanks to the open APIs (XML and SOAP) and the multiple integration schemes offered by Zone Manager and Zone Generator, the Alcatel-Lucent IZO can easily be integrated with both network and OSS/BSS elements. This capability allows the Alcatel-Lucent IZO to: Simultaneously support multiple networks, including Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), CDMA, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Fulfill all OSS/BSS needs (provisioning, customer care, self-care) The Alcatel-Lucent IZO also provides a web-based GUI for service provider administrators to allow the operator to supply any data required by the AlcatelLucent IZO (cells, zones, subscribers). The Alcatel-Lucent IZO can be deployed as a standalone product, leveraging its open APIs for deployments inthirdparty component environments, or can be delivered pre-integrated with the end-to-end Alcatel-Lucent Convergent Payment solution, including the Alcatel-Lucent ICC Suite.

Alcatel-Lucent Service Interaction Gateway (SIG) A multi-purpose highly programmable call/session control module which can be used for Alcatel-Lucent IZO integration in off-line charging models or as a proxy to third-party on-line charging systems Alcatel-Lucent 9159 Network Performance Optimizer (NPO), part of the Alcatel-Lucent OMC-R solution A powerful performance management system used by the Alcatel-Lucent IZO to upload cell load information

Technical Specifications
Standards-based platform
Latest IT hardware Solaris or Linux operating system

Supported protocols and interfaces

Internal Protocols: Distributed Processing Environment (DPE) APIs XML/HTTP SOAP File (csv) MAP Administration: Alcatel-Lucent IZO GUI

Pre-integrated Alcatel-Lucent products

Alcatel-Lucent Instant Convergent Charging Suite (ICC) A complete, end-to-end convergent payment solution that supports real-time rating, charging and billing for wire line, wireless, data and video (quadruple-play) and associated value-added services for prepaid and post-paid subscribers

www.alcatel-lucent.com

Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein. Copyright 2010 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. ASG2809101149 (12)