Putting Mediation to New Uses

Mediation can solve this problem (and remove the dependency on static, pre-integrated and expensive legacy BSS and OSS systems) while delivering an efficient and configurable environment. This is done not by system replacement but through application enablement, where the traditional support system infrastructure is "offloaded" to a new, mediation-based solution.

Usage management provides the ability to create “data buckets” within the mediation application, in an almost unlimited variety of hierarchies and to which can be assigned any “value”.  Where the underlying service is simple (and this is the case with the vast majority of the services CSPs offer), it is an effective and low-cost way of deploying, for example, metered service bundles (the sort of packages of voice, SMS and data which these days form the basis of most service provider’s competitive offerings to consumer customers, and also when offering connectivity for M2M and IoT.) Its real-time subscriber control functionality also enables smart bundle up-sell.

These approaches mean expensive charging systems can be offloaded because mediation with usage management functionality can handle the “heavy lifting” that would otherwise be done further downstream.

Usage management brings a parallel value in the OSS domain too, via a similar approach. Here, mediation with KPI management provides the ability to directly create “KPI counters” in mediation layer, offloading traditional OSS systems and allowing new types of OSS applications to be rapidly deployed and focused exclusively on supporting what they are purposed for.

Clearly, each of these three Use Cases demands further, and more detailed investigation; but this article is not the place for that. The point I want to make here is to recognise that mediation can no longer be seen or defined simply through its role in the billing process.

As such, mediation applications are an almost inevitably underutilized asset in the data centres of a great majority of telcos.  The good news is that because of this, they represent a fantastic opportunity to drive growth.  The increasing number of CSPs seeing a strategic opportunity and putting their mediation solutions to non-traditional uses underlines this.