Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone

R e l e as e 2 . 5

The Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone (IZO) is an application that enables mobile service providers to address hyper-
market segmentation by creating attractive tariff packages based on the location of the subscriber. The Alcatel-
Lucent 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) • Home zones – targeting consumer

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 special-
ized tariffs for regions where fixed
line penetration is low
segments
• Office zones – focusing on corporate
or small-to-medium business segments
• Campus zones – addressing univer-
sity students
• Special events zones – supporting
zones created around stadiums,
concert halls and festivals
• Tourist zones – targeting the discre-
tionary 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 • End-user interaction and provisioning risk is reduced, playful offers with
¬ Self care application programming attractive tariffs help reduce churn,
• Home zone and Group zone interface (AP)I (subscriber-specific gain new subscribers and increase
¬ Define one or more subscriber zone provisioning and location/ consumption
specific zones for consumers, discount inquiry) available for self • Simultaneously addresses consumer
families and enterprises care channels home zones, enterprise office zones,
¬ Apply discounted when calls are ¬ USSD self-care channel integrated and campus zones for universities
performed from these subscriber in Alcatel-Lucent Instant Conver- • Simplifies subscriber-zone process
specific zones gent Charging Suite calculation with pre-integrated
¬ Allow multiple zones per subscriber ¬ Service provider administrators Geographic Information System
• Regional zone can create, modify or delete zones (GIS) by entering subscriber’s
using a web-based Graphical User physical address
¬ Define geographical zones for
all subscribers Interface (GUI) or using batch files • Allows end-user query on present
¬ Database can be extended to add zone location
¬ Apply discounted tariffs when
calls are performed from these parameters for zone definition • Simultaneously supports both
geographical zones and to improve zone accuracy prepaid and post-paid subscribers,
¬ Choice of algorithms available to eliminating the need to have sepa-
• Preferred zone
calculate the actual definition of rate support infrastructures
¬ Associate one or more pre-defined
the zones • Offers open APIs for ease of integra-
regional zones to specific subscribers
• Open APIs tion into existing service provider
¬ Apply discounted tariffs when environment
calls are performed from these ¬ Ease of integration with third-party
information technology (IT) and • Delivers flexibility to support a
geographical zones
network elements using open inter­ number of different connectors
¬ Allow multiple zones per subscriber to third-party elements:
faces based on XML and Simple
• Yield zone Object Access Protocol (SOAP) ¬ Real-Time Charging/Call Control
¬ Discount is based on the traffic in • High availability system, for real-time location-
the zone, periodically calculated based charging
¬ High availability solution offering
using current traffic data and ¬ Home Location Register (HLR), for
active-standby configurations
historical data retrieving the end-user location,
¬ Geographical diversity to support
¬ Discount information can be e.g. when Cell Id is not provided
disaster avoidance and disaster
cell-broadcasted in the zone by the network or in case of called
recovery programs
(configurable option) or can be location option
requested by individual subscribers • Extensive usage records
¬ Network Topology Data Base, for
using Unstructured Supplementary ¬ Generation of call detail records
keeping the cell database of the
Service Data (USSD) (CDRs)/event data records (EDRs)
Alcatel-Lucent IZO up-to-date
¬ Subscribers are notified of the in operator configurable formats
(ASN.1) ¬ Short Message Service Cell Broad-
discount by flash Short Message cast system (SMS CB), for the yield
Service (SMS) when they launch zone discount information broad-
a call (as ultimate guarantee) Benefits cast option
• Geographic number translation to ¬ Operation and Maintenance Center
implement a pseudo fixed/long dis- • Encourages subscribers to substitute
mobile services for fixed services (OMC), for collecting cell load
tance call with tariff differentiation indicators for yield zone
based on called-number geographi- • Defines unique rates based on the
zones associated with the given ¬ Geographic Information System
cal zone
subscriber (GIS), for enabling zone calculation
• Hyper-segmentation from physical address
¬ Apply unique tariffs for voice as • Defines geographically discounted
calls for all subscribers ¬ Operations Support System/Business
well as data Support System (OSS/BSS), e.g. for
¬ Several zone types can be defined • Allows tariffs dynamically depen-
customer care or customer self
to create new commercial packages dent on current load in yield zones
provisioning
such as event zone or campus zone defined as individual cells or groups
of cells: peaks and off-peaks are effi- • Ability to easily support the expansion
• No modification of the handset and evolution of the network
ciently tracked, network utilization
required
is optimized, congestion
• Simultaneous support of 2G, 3G,
and 4G mobile networks

2 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 third-
party 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 Alcatel-
Lucent 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

Open interface.
OSS/BSS systems (configuration, provisioning, Pre-integrated by
Optional customer care, self care (Web, USSD, IVR, ...) ALU ICC (provisioning high
(feeds level API, customer care
cells and and self-care channels)
zones in XML/HTTP(s) or SOAP
IZO DB)

Optional
(queried
when A or Topology DB CSV/FTP Zone Zone
manager generator SOAP GIS
B location
is missing) (optional)
HLR MAP

Cells Open interface. Optional

Required OMC-R CSV/FTP Zones Pre-integrated (used for
for Yield Users GUIs with third- postal
Zone (feeds
SMS CB XML/HTTP(s) party GIS address
cells load
system conversion)
in IZO DB)
Instant Zone (IZO)
Optional Open interfaces.
(used to Pre-integrated
IT platform
broadcast with ALU and
discounts third-party GMLC,
to users) HLR, OMC and Open interface.
SMS-CB XML/HTTP(s) Pre-integrated by ALU ICC
and SIG real time call control

Prepaid and Call/session control and charging system

postpaid (ALU ICC, SIG RTCC or third-party system)

GSM/UMTS, CDMA, IWS, WiMAX

Alcatel-Lucent Instant Zone | Release 2.5 | Data Sheet 3

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 net-
work topology)
• Off-line (the links are created at
zone creation time in the Alcatel-
Lucent 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 integra-
tion with a third-party GIS. This GIS
pre-integration with the Zone Genera-
tor 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 provi-
sioning time, typically in the network
topology files that could be generated
by a third-party zone generator.
Easy integration in network • Alcatel-Lucent Service Interaction
and OSS/BSS environment Gateway (SIG)
Thanks to the open APIs (XML and SOAP) ¬ A multi-purpose highly program-
and the multiple integration schemes mable call/session control module
offered by Zone Manager and Zone which can be used for Alcatel-Lucent
Generator, the Alcatel-Lucent IZO can IZO integration in off-line charging
easily be integrated with both network models or as a proxy to third-party
and OSS/BSS elements. This capability on-line charging systems
allows the Alcatel-Lucent IZO to: • Alcatel-Lucent 9159 Network Perfor-
• Simultaneously support multiple mance Optimizer (NPO), part of the
networks, including Global System Alcatel-Lucent OMC-R solution
for Mobile Communications (GSM), ¬ A powerful performance
CDMA, General Packet Radio Service management system used by
(GPRS) and Universal Mobile Tele- the Alcatel-Lucent IZO to upload
communications System (UMTS) cell load information
• Fulfill all OSS/BSS needs (provisioning,
customer care, self-care) Technical Specifications
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO also provides
Standards-based platform
a web-based GUI for service provider
• Latest IT hardware
administrators to allow the operator to
• Solaris™ or Linux® operating system
supply any data required by the Alcatel-
Lucent IZO (cells, zones, subscribers). Supported protocols and interfaces
• Internal Protocols: Distributed Processing
The Alcatel-Lucent IZO can be deployed Environment (DPE)
as a standalone product, leveraging • APIs
its open APIs for deployments in third- ¬ XML/HTTP
party component environments, or can ¬ SOAP
be delivered pre-integrated with the ¬ File (csv)
end-to-end Alcatel-Lucent Convergent ¬ MAP
Payment solution, including the • Administration: Alcatel-Lucent IZO GUI
Alcatel-Lucent ICC Suite.
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
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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
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