Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC

D Y N A M I C S E R V I C E S C O N T R O L L E R | R E L E A S E 3 . 0

The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC) is a highly scalable, carrier-grade converged platform
that provides the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) for 3G and 4G wireless networks (as per the
3rd Generation Partnership Program [3GPP] Releases 7, 8, and 9) as well as support for wireline networks.

Product overview
The 5780 Dynamic Services Controller
(DSC) is paramount in delivering
personalized services while monetizing
the service providers network with
scale and velocity. The 5780 DSC is a
3GPP-certified Policy and Charging
Rules Function (PCRF) at its core,
supporting 3GPP Releases 7, 8,
and 9. The 5780 DSC also supports
residential wireline access by offering
a RADIUS/Change of Authorization
(CoA) interface to the Broadband
Network Gateway (BNG) and the
Broadband Remote Access
Server (BRAS).
The 5780 DSC is integrated with the
9900 Wireless Network Guardian
(WNG), thus enabling Intelligent Traffic
Management (ITM). ITM allows service
providers to understand the new breed
of broadband traffic (i.e., network
intelligence) that wireless networks
face, while dynamically identifying
and addressing anomalous events that
could impact the subscribers Quality
of Experience (QoE).

The 5780 DSC is part of the

Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless
Packet Core (UWPC), leveraging a deep
understanding of integrating with key,
charging and enforcement elements
such as the Gateway GPRS Support
Node (GGSN) and Packet Data Network
(PDN) Gateways (PGWs). The 5780 DSC
supports both 3G and 4G deployments
and can be deployed simultaneously in
wireline environments. The 5780 DSC
is managed by the 5620 Service Aware
Manager (SAM), which is also used to
manage all of Alcatel-Lucents packet
core elements. The 5780 DSC can be
purchased pre-integrated with the
UWPC or it can also be easily deployed
in a multivendor environment due to
its comprehensive support of all major
standardized interfaces. Figure 1 shows
a network view of the 5780 DSC.

Figure 1. The 5780 DSC network view

2.5G/3G/3.5G networks

BSC

RNC

GSM/GPRS/EDGE

WCDMA/HSPA

RNC

PSDN/HA

9900 WNG

CDMA/EV-DO

eNodeB
4G

SGW

BNG
DSLAM

MME/SGSN

PGW/GGSN

5780 DSC
Converged
Policy Manager

Aggregation
switch/router

Converged packet core

Wireless access
Converged service-aware network management
5620 SAM

Product detail
The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC is the
decision engine that enables the
authorization of network resources to
be applied to a service data flow (SDF),
the gating of packets from specific
SDFs, QoS control for specific SDFs,
and flow-based per-SDF charging. The
5780 DSC operates throughout the
entire lifecycle of the user interaction
with the mobile network. It operates
during initial User Equipment (UE)
attachment, and during the establishment of additional resources to support
application session establishment, as
well as performs dynamic sessionmodification for established sessions. The
5780 DSC also supports a RADIUS/ CoA
interface and interacts directly with a
BNG or BRAS to provide wireline policy
management concurrently with its
wireless offering.

Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC | Release 3.0 | Data Sheet

The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSCs state-ofthe-art decision engine provides wireless

and fixed network service providers
with the capabilities to map business
demands and network constraints into
easy-to-manage network policy rules.
The decision engine uses a set of predefined operator-configured service
policies combined with network
(device-type, access type, location,
intelligence), subscriber (service tier,
pre-paid, credit balance, entitlements),
system (state, time of day) and application information (service description,
traffic parameters) that it obtains from
its various interfaces to maximize the
effectiveness of its policy decisions.
Once policy decisions are dynamically
synthesized by the decision engine, they
are formulated into network consumable rules and sent through the Gx
(or RADIUS/CoA) interface to the
PCEF/DPI (or BNG/BRAS) where they
are instantiated and enforced for
per-device per-application data
plane treatment.

The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC implements PCRF as per the 3GPP policy
and charging (PCC) architecture
Releases 7, 8, and 9 and supports all
of the standard interfaces defined
therein. The 3GPP-defined Rx interface
allows interaction with the Application
Function (AF), thereby providing
detailed service description information
from the IP Multi-Media Subsystem
(IMS)-based applications. The RESTful
and Web Service (WS) interfaces allow
Internet-based third-party applications
to interact with the 5780 DSC to
negotiate the proper treatment of
their underlying per-application packet
flows. These interfaces are key parts
of the Alcatel-Lucent Application
Enablement (AE) offering, allowing
service providers to break into the
value chain that is normally reserved
for application and content providers
(ACPs). Figure 2 shows a logical
architectural view of the Alcatel-Lucent
5780 DSC and the standard interfaces
that it supports.

Figure 2. The 5780 DSC PCC Pre-Integrated Components

AE

8650 SDM

5450 ISC

Internet

SPR

AF

WS/RESTful

Sp

Rx

PCRF
5780 DSC
proprietary

Gx

RADIUS/CoA

8610 ICC or
8620 SurePay

Gx

Gy

Network
intelligence

PCEF

BNG/BRAS

DPI

9900 WNG

7750 PGW/GGSN

7750 SR

7750 int. AA
Sandvine PTS

The 3GPP-defined Gx interface allows

interaction with the mobile network,
which includes a direct connection to
the (PCEF) entity on the GGSN, Packet
Data Network Gateway (P-GW), or Deep
Packet Inspection (DPI) appliance. The
Gx interface also provides an indirect
connection via the PCEF (from Gy and
Gz) to the Online Charging System (OCS)
and the Offline Charging System (OFCS),
respectively, providing dynamic and
seamless per-packet flow charging.
The Sp interface is implemented by
the 5780 DSC as the Diameter-based
Sh and the Lightweight Directory
Assistance Protocol (LDAP) and allows
interaction with the Service Profile
Repository (SPR). This interaction
provides information on the profile
of a subscriber who is requesting the
service session (including information
such as service tier, entitlements,
historic data consumption, and
other per-subscriber options). This
information provides unique subscriber
information that is crucial in enabling
service personalization.
The interface to the 9900 WNG
allows the 5780 DSC to have access to
per-device, per-application network
intelligence, enabling the solution

ITM. ITM allows service providers to

define policies that address anomalous
behavior (such as heavy users, security
threats) in the network before they
become an issue that impacts valued
monetized subscribers and compromises the integrity of the network.
The RADIUS/CoA interface is used
to concurrently support wireline
network access by interacting with
a BNG or legacy BRAS elements to
provide policy management in an
access-independent manner.

The physical components

of the 5780 DSC
The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC is based
on the NEBS-certified, carrier-grade
Alcatel-Lucent ATCA 14-slot blade
server platform. This platform is
field proven and is also used for the
Alcatel-Lucent 9471 Wireless Mobility
Manager (WMM), the Alcatel-Lucent
8650 Subscriber Data Manager (SDM),
and other Alcatel-Lucent IMS products.
Although this section only describes
the Alcatel-Lucent ATCAv2 hardware
components, the complete 5780 DSC
software is also fully supported on
SUN hardware.

Gz

OCS

OFCS
8615 IeCCF

The Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC uses a

single processor blade that can function
as the Common Services Blade or for
PCRF processing. The Common Services
Blade provides the system OAM
functions, connectivity to the
Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware
Manager (SAM), the Web Console,
and the provisioning interface. It also
provides and maintains all of the
externalinterfaces, while dispatching
(load-balances) requests to the PCRF
processing blades. The Common
Services Blade is configured in a 1+1
pair for redundancy, and a single pair
is required per ATCA shelf. The PCRF
processing blades core function is the
policy-decision engine and it maintains
service data-flow states, creates
application session bindings, and
provides event forwarding. The PCRF
processing blade is configured in 1+1
pairs for redundancy, and up to five
pairs can be deployed in a single
ATCA shelf.
The 5780 DSC shelf also includes
the switching hub blade that is used
to provide internal communication
between processing blades. The
switching hub blades are housed in the
middle two slots in the chassis and are
configured in a 1+1 redundancy pair.

Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC | Release 3.0 | Data Sheet

Features and benefits

FEATURES

BENEFITS

Fully 3GPP R7/8/9-compliant PCRF functionality, supporting 3G and 4G networks

Provides the tools that allow service providers to personalize their service
offerings with scale and velocity and attract new subscribers while more
efficiently monetizing each bit delivered

Support for wireline policy management with a RADIUS/CoA interface to the

BNG and BRAS

Provides concurrent support for wireline access models, thus providing massive
operational benefits while future-proofing the service providers network

Transit Application Assurance (AA), supporting out-of-line host instantiation

in a 7750 SR AA-equipped network hop

Supports Alcatel-Lucent Application Assurance (AA) functionality in legacy PPPoE

BRAS environments and allows easy migration to 7750 Service Router (SR)-based
subscriber management with minimal additional investment

Web Services (WS) interface and RESTful Web API for simplified integration with
web applications

Empowers mobile service providers to monetize their network assets and build new
business models, allowing them to enter into the value chain with ACP partners

Integration with the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG enabling ITM

Leverages Wireless Network Intelligence to dynamically protect subscriber QoE

while maintaining the integrity of the network

Rich set of SPR features, including an embedded SPR and support for horizontal
and vertical subscriber records for external SPR mode of operation, as well as
pre-integration with the 8650 SDM

Experience in integrating seamlessly with existing OSS environments, with the

flexibility to access subscriber records distributed across multiple sources
(horizontal) or the ability to stitch together subscriber records across multiple
rows (vertical)

Pre-integration with the Alcatel-Lucent 8610 ICC and the 8620 Surepay
charging products

Provides seamless charging flexibility, including support for pre-paid/post-paid

models while providing application-specific treatment such as zero rating for
some traffic flows

Pre-integration with the Alcatel-Lucent 5450 IP Session Controller (ISC)

IMS product

Provides support for a complete IMS solution

DPI Appliance Support as a policy enforcement point through the Gx interface

and Gx session correlation, enabling multiple enforcement points for the same
packet flow

With Gx session correlation, service providers are enabled to seamlessly leverage

the L7 packet inspection techniques offered by a DPI enforcement point with
existing bearer-plane enforcement points to further enhance the breadth of
policy-controlled in-line data plane capabilities

IOT with the Sandvine Policy Traffic Switch (PTS)

Demonstrates capability to interoperate with a leading DPI vendor through the

Gx interface

1+1 hot-redundancy with no single point of failure, carrier-grade availability

(99.999%), hot-swappable blades, and in-service software upgrades

Provides exceptional reliability, scalability and performance to support a vast

number of subscribers, services and applications

Software is supported on scalable Alcatel-Lucent ATCAv2 hardware architecture,

as well as on SUN-based rack-mounted server hardware

Provides flexible hardware deployment options

Converged and harmonized pricing approach that is based upon per-session

use, and is independent of use case and access type

Provides easy, simple-to-understand and simple-to-build pricing models that

scale with wireless and wireline sesisons

Standards compliance
3GPP Technical Specifications (TS)

STANDARD

DESCRIPTION

R7

R8

R9

TS 23.002

Network Architecture

v7.6.0

v8.6.0

v9.2.0

TS 29.203

Policy and charging control architecture

v7.12.0, v7.10.0

v8.8.0, v8.5.0

v9.3.0, v9.0.0

TS 23.401

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (E-UTRAN) access

n/a

v8.8.0

v9.3.0

TS 23.402

Architecture enhancements for non-3GPP accesses

n/a

v8.8.0

v9.3.0

TS 29.061

Interworking between the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) that supports packet-based
services and Packet Data Networks (PDN)

v7.11.0

v8.4.0

v9.1.0

TS 29.212

Policy and Charging Control over Gx reference point

v7.11.0, v7.8.0

v8.6.0, v8.3.0

v9.1.0

TS 29.213

Charging Control signaling flows and QoS parameter mapping

v7.9.0, v8.8.0

v8.6.0, v8.3.0

v9.1.0

TS 29.214

Policy and Charging Control over Rx reference point

v7.9.0, v7.7.0

v8.7.0, v8.4.0

v9.2.0

TS 29.230

Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals Diameter applications

v7.14.0

v8.8.0

v9.1.0

TS 29.274

Evolved General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunnelling Protocol for Control plane (GTPv2-C)

n/a

v8.4.0

v9.1.0

TS 29.329

Sh Interface based on the Diameter Protocol: Protocol Details and LDAPv3

v7.8.0

v8.5.0

v9.0.0

Alcatel-Lucent 5780 DSC | Release 3.0 | Data Sheet

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFCs)

RFC

DESCRIPTION

RFC 2251

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol v3 (LDAPv3)

RFC 2865

Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)

RFC 2866

RADIUS Accounting

RFC 3588

Diameter Base protocol

RFC 4005

Diameter Network Access Server Application

RFC 4006

Diameter Credit Control Application

RFC 5176

Dynamic Authorization Extensions to RADIUS

Technical specifications
ATCA platform
Dimensions

Height: 2125.5 mm (83.7 in.)

Width: 598 mm (23.5 in.)
Depth: 600 mm (23.6 in.)

Interfaces
OAM Server / Dispatcher Blade:
2 x 1000BaseT ports per blade
each protected

Electrical data
Operating voltage: -48 V DC
DC inputs: Two each from redundant feeds
Input voltage rating: -36 V to -72 V
(-48 V DC / -60 V DC nominal)
Operating input voltage range:
-39 V to -60 V DC
Power consumption: 300 W
per slot (maximum) or 7300 W
(maximum configuration)

Safety / regulatory data

EMC

Environmental data
Operational: ETS 300: 019-2-3,
class 3.2
Operating temperature: 5C to
40C (41F to 104F)
Relative humidity: -5% to 85%
(in conformance with ANSI T1.304)
Absolute humidity: 0.03 g/m3 to
36 g/m3
Vibration and shock: Compliant
with ETS 300 019-1-3, class 3M5
Cooling method: Fan unit
Acoustic noise: Compliant with
ISO 7779 Acoustic

ETSI EN 300 386

FCC 47 CFR Part 15
2004/108/EC
Safety

Europe: EN 60950-1
Others: IEC 60950-1
US: UL 60950-1
CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 950.95
CE / NEBS

CE Mark, UL Mark
Designed for NEBS Level 3,
Earthquake Zone 4

Orderable hardware
and software parts
Hardware chassis bundles
Each bundle includes one rack,
power distribution units, one
shelf, necessary cabling, two
common services blades and
two switching blades
3HE05726AA 5780 DSC ATCA
SMALL CONFIGURATION (two
5780 DSC PCRF Services Blades)
3HE05727AA 5780 DSC ATCA
MEDIUM CONFIGURATION (six
5780 DSC PCRF Services Blades)
3HE05728AA 5780 DSC ATCA
LARGE CONFIGURATION (ten
5780 DSC PCRF Services Blades)

Hardware growth shelf

& blades
3HE05734AA 5780 DSC
COMMON SERVICES BLADE
3HE05100AA 5780 DSC PCRF
SERVICES BLADE

www.alcatel-lucent.com

3HE05733AA 5780 DSC PCRF

SWITCHING HUB
3HE05729AA 5780 DSC ATCA
GROWTH SHELF (includes two
5780 DSC Common Services
Blades, two switching blades
and two 5780 DSC PCRF Services
Blades)

Software
All software is compatible with
both the Alcatel-Lucent ATCAv2
hardware platform and SUN-based
rack-mounted hardware
3HE04982BA 5780 DSC SVR
MOD BASE S/W (one per processing blade)
3HE04983BA 5780 DSC 10K ACTIVE
IP-CAN SESSIONS
3HE04984BA 5780 DSC 10K ACTIVE
APP SESSIONS
3HE06268AA 5780 DSC WIRELINE POLICY MANAGEMENT

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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 2011 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved.
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