I started writing this column over a year ago with two goals in mind: helping you stay informed, and taking the opportunity to learn from your questions, concerns and inquiries in return. Over the last 3 months you’ve emailed several questions, many of which also came up in this week’s “Time to Ditch The Switch?” webinar (The Prepaid Press subscribers were specially invited). Here are some of those questions and answers from the webinar panel, which included myself, Brian Partridge, Director of Enabling Technologies for The Yankee Group, Erik K. Linask, Group Managing Editor of TMC, and Tom Regan, Manager of Customer Service for Pactolus.



What specifically can IP platforms do that TDM platforms can’t?

IP platforms allow prepaid service providers to leverage SIP peering for sharply lower minute rates, and significantly lower Netex (Network Expense) and Opex (Operating Expense). IP platforms also scale gracefully without ‘lumpy’ costs and additional Capex (Capital Expenditure). Most importantly, because IP platforms separate hardware from software, they can offer a very well-defined software platform that enables advanced customizations and ongoing service feature innovation and evolution, which TDM can’t. And they can enable this continual optimization without disrupting services.



What are the biggest potential ‘gotchas’ in migrating to IP?

The most relevant one is the simplicity of the network, especially during the initial deployment phase. IP networks are comprised of multiple components that you have to assemble, rather than an out of the box, all-in-one solution. This means that the prepaid service provider needs to be careful about interoperability issues, ensuring that software interacts, and making sure that their service levels are fully meeting their QoS (Quality of Service) objectives. All of these are easy to do, providing that the prepaid service provider works with an experienced, well-informed vendor whose domain expertise and application insight will help guide them through the selection and migration process.



What features DON’T I need in an IP platform?

As static as this business can seem, it’s really in a state of constant evolution and is perpetually re-aligning features to changing market requirements. That means that it’s probably very helpful to look at the features you’re now actually using – both subscriber and operational – and cull the ones you don’t need. What you’re really going to be leveraging with IP isn’t just the ability to drag forward old features, it’s having the agility and velocity to add features and customizations.



What value-add does an SBC have?

Session Border Controllers are essential for IP networks, whether the service provider deploys their own or uses a partitioned SBC within their carrier’s network. The SBC aggregates IP traffic, and securely connects the service provider to their SIP carrier for IP peering to handle TDM call terminations and minutes. So it’s essential for securing the border and providing good hand offs of calls to other routes and carriers.



Is IP Capex slightly higher and if so, why?

Initial IP Capex can be slightly higher and it involves two components, the hardware and the software. When you look at legacy platforms, dedicated hardware consolidates the software and performs only one function, so costs have dropped over time, and are now being forced down as part of the sun setting process. What you get with IP is a different way of assessing costs, which takes into consideration both the superior levels of service flexibility noted above, and far more inexpensive scale-up. Depending on the service provider’s equipment choices, they may end up with slightly larger initial Capex, but they will have far more capacity and ability to support larger numbers of concurrent calls. Also, the new quad servers introduce even more horsepower into the equation, enabling 4-6K calls on a single server, further boosting price/performance of IP. A TDM platform just can’t match that “software density” to support the same numbers of calls in the same footprint.



What performance (call processing) considerations are there when  migrating to IP?

Basically, the IP performance considerations are all upside. IP enables more processing power with COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) hardware and standard operating systems vs. TDM. IP allows service providers to control well over 250,000 calls on single node, without monitoring disparate databases and building special code for scaling.

As always, thanks for your questions and comments. We’re currently creating and distributing a poll of prepaid service providers and their business and market interests. If you’d like to participate, please drop me a line.



Ken Osowski is the VP of Marketing & Product Management at Pactolus Communications Software. He can be reached at keno@pactolus.com.