Aptilo Service Management Platform™

Data sheet
Summary
Aptilo Service Management Platform (SMP) is the cru-
cial glue between the wireless network and the core
network / OSS/BSS systems. This is where services
are created and personalized; and where polices are
defined to control which users access the Internet, their
service level and billing.
The pre-integrated Aptilo SMP includes optional mod-
ules for Subscriber Management, Web portals, Statistics
& Reporting, Access Control and Prepaid & Charging.
Aptilo SMP supports both B2C and B2B business
models. The Aptilo SMP creates, aggregates and
exports billing data.
In addition to important pre-integrated function-
ality for rapid deployments, there is a fully flexible
modularity and many native interfaces to integrate
to additional external systems of choice.
Features include: The Aptilo Service Management Platform is the crucial glue between the wireless network
• Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) and the Core Network / OSS / BSS systems. Aptilo’s multi-access architecture provides a single,
with support for Wi-Fi / WiMAX specific attributes. scalable platform to handle Wi-Fi, 3G / LTE and WiMAX mobile broadband services.
• 3GPP AAA with EAP-SIM/AKA authentication.
• 3GPP-compliant Policy and Charging Rules Function
(PCRF) with support also for Wi-Fi / WiMAX policies. Fast-track deployments
• RADIUS and Diameter support with translation The Aptilo SMP consist of a AAA / PCRF core (Authentication, Authorization,
between the two.
• Policy based IP assignment and routing. Accounting and Policy and Charging Rules Function) surrounded by optional
• Captive Portal Server. pre-integrated subsystems.
• Subscriber self provisioning.
• Payment support with Credit Cards, Vouchers, Pre-
The optional subsystems that make up a complete back-end solution include
mium SMS and Hotel PMS. Subscriber Management, Web Portals, Statistics & Reporting, Access Controller
• Wholesale and Roaming support. and Prepaid & Charging.
• Configurable logic with intelligent database interfaces.
• Highly scalable architecture with high-availability Aptilo AAA+ / PCRF+ Core gives you more
including geographical redundancy. Aptilo’s AAA / PCRF is not like any other generic solution. It is a solid system
with value-added functionality that is specially built for wireless networks. That
The Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP)
is why we call it Aptilo AAA+/PCRF+ Core, bringing additional values to your
is a purpose-built carrier-grade system for control
wireless service.
of billing, user services and access in wireless net-
works. The system manages and delivers carrier- The Aptilo AAA+ core include all adaptations needed for the specific radio
class mobile data services for Wi-Fi, WiMAX and access, for instance support for Wi-Fi and WiMAX specific attributes.
3G/LTE networks including 3GPP mobile core inte-
For 3G/LTE networks, the Aptilo AAA+ core can act as a 3GPP AAA for automatic
gration supporting e.g. Wi-Fi offloading and 3GPP
authentication of users through the SIM credentials. This specific functionality is
policy control.
also available as a stand-alone product – the Aptilo SIM Authentication Server™.
It features a highly scalable architecture with high-
The Aptilo AAA+ Core boasts advanced authentication, session management,
availability including geographical redundancy
intelligent roaming, Gateway & Mobile IP HA adaptors, advanced APIs, security
and disaster recovery. The native support for both
features, WiMAX support, 3GPP support, IPv6 support and more.
RADIUS and Diameter protocols and translations
between the two, facilitates easy integration of The 3GPP-compliant Aptilo PCRF+ core can coexist with existing policy control
different generations of OSS/BSS systems and servers (PCRF) – for instance as a policy control node for Wi-Fi. It is also available
Core Network nodes. as a stand-alone PCRF through the Aptilo Policy & Charging Server™.
The Aptilo PCRF+ Core goes beyond the scope of a standard PCRF Subscriber Managemet
with the addition of optional pre-integrated modules:
The subscriber management features of the Aptilo SMP provides
• Prepaid Data Balance module administration of user accounts either with the built-in database or
• Policy based IP assignment module
through an external database, providing functions such as:
• Policy based routing (BGP) control module.
• View and manually create, modify and delete user accounts online
• 3GPP Policies • 3GPP Policies • Generate multiple accounts and vouchers using naming conventions
• Wi-Fi Policies
• Batch import and/or export multiple user accounts using CSV files
• 3GPP Policies • Wi-Fi Policies
• Wi-F
Wi-Fi Policies Lookups from PCRF  Gx/S9 to SMP
Existing
Exissting • Flexibly search user data based on value, key or both using wildcards
(or any other data source)
PCRF
PCRF • Refund credit card transactions
• Set e-mail notifications for users for account expiry
• Online sign-up
Aptilo’s PCRF+ Core Hybrid Deployment Use of existing PCRF

In a hybrid deployment, Aptilo PCRF+ Core can act as a Wi-Fi aware policy The Aptilo system supports authentication look-up from external
management node and receive policies from existing PCRF nodes and make sources based on Active Directory, LDAP, SOAP/XML, RSA SecurID,
additional lookups from other data sources to define a new policy that is understood
RADIUS and Diameter.
in the Wi-Fi network including the use of vendor specific attributes (VSA).
Hierarchical accounts
Built-in support for Multiple Business Models The Aptilo hierarchical account
With the Aptilo SMP comes support for multiple business models and structure allows a whole family
our experience from 120+ deployments in more than 60 countries: to share the same main account
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C) - Service providers selling to consumers while still having their individual
• Business-to-Business (B2B) - Service providers selling to/through businesses
accounts and even different sub-
• Wholesale - Service providers selling to other service providers
accounts for multiple devices.
There is an increasing interest among Wi-Fi service providers to
The user of the main account can
offer Business-to-Business Wi-Fi services such as:
manage all the accounts through
• Enterprise: Internet Guest Access and support for the Bring-Your-Own- the Aptilo Web self-care portal.
Device (BYOD) concept for employees.
• Hospitality / Healthcare: Free Internet Guest Access and / or chargea- Prepaid funds can be consumed from an account higher up in the
ble Wi-Fi services, often integrated with property management systems
(PMS) so the end-user is charged through the Hotel Bill. hierarchy. Furthermore, the hierarchical account structure supports
• Municipality: Wi-Fi services with separation of public and private use. in an elegant way the fact that family members may have multiple
• Wi-Fi services at crowded public places such as Stadiums and Airports devices for which they want to share the same quota. There can
where support for roaming is in particular important.
also be different ratings and login methods applied for different
Service providers will not only gain additional revenue from these sub-accounts.
B2B Wi-Fi services with Aptilo SMP. They will also get an excellent
Voucher Management
base for site acquisition for their Wi-Fi network.
With the optional voucher management module, the service pro-
Value-adding optional subsystems vider can create vouchers including access codes and serial num-
Aptilo SMP features important optional pre-integrated subsys- bers associated with a predefined account type in the Aptilo SMP.
tems for fast and reliable time-to-market. However, you are free The voucher management module supports:
to integrate with any existing systems through our many native
interfaces and through the Aptilo ServiceGlue™ (see below). • E-vouchers with one-time access codes.
In practice, our sub-systems are often deployed in hybrid with the • Batch generation of vouchers including access codes and serial numbers,
can be used for external physical voucher creation.
existing systems to obtain unique functionality otherwise not possible.
• Import/export of voucher codes from/to other systems with csv-files.
• Batch creation of multiple physical vouchers in PDF format.
• Wholesale support, wholesale operator can virtually supply multiple service
providers with their own voucher generator, allowing them to sell wireless
access under their own brand.

Subscriber provisioning
The Aptilo SMP features optional modules for facilitating subscriber
provisioning and wholesale of services through retailers.
With end-user self provisioning, end-users can sign-up for service.
Subscribers can view and edit certain parts of the account informa-
tion through the Web self-care portal.
The optional account activation module allows the service provider to
create inactive accounts for an existing customer base. In this instance
the end customer will identify himself and activate the account by
sending an SMS or by typing in a predefined username/password.
The wholesale service provider can create prepaid volume accounts Policy Enforcement
that can be sold to retailers. Instead of selling individual accounts
The policies and business logics that are defined in the Aptilo SMP
to end-users, the wholesale service provider allows retailers such as
must be enforced in the data path by access gateways (Wi-Fi),
hotels, airports and convention centers to create any type of account
packet gateways (3G / LTE), ASN Gateways (WiMAX) and DPI nodes.
that is allowed in the settings of the retailer’s prepaid volume account.
The Aptilo Access Controller™ (AC - see separate data sheet) gate-
Service providers can sell a complete public access service package to
way is purpose-built for access control, usage monitoring and policy
enterprises and corporate accounts. This service can also include a cor-
enforcement in Wi-Fi networks enabled by the Aptilo SMP. The Aptilo
porate Guest Internet Access service to enhance the service provider’s
AC dynamically handles user sessions, QoS and routing from the local
value proposition for the corporate customer. The corporate custom-
network to the Internet. Together with the Service Profiles defined in
er’s administrator have full management access to a defined subset of
the Aptilo SMP the Aptilo AC constitutes a powerful tool for handling
the user accounts related to their specific corporate account.
differentiated service bundles with prioritization of traffic on the user
level and features true client plug-and-play functionality.
Web Portals - Captive Portal Server
The Aptilo AC is optimized for working hand-in-hand with the Aptilo
The built-in Web Portals in the Aptilo SMP are the end-user facing SMP delivering true unique capabilities. However, Aptilo SMP also
parts of the system. A captive portal is used to force the end-user to works seamlessly with third-party access gateways and has proven
interact with Aptilo SMP, often regarding the commercial aspects of interoperability with leading third-party gateways through customer
the service. The most common scenarios are: deployments and our ever-growing list of ecosystem partners.
• The user is unknown and needs to sign-up and pay for the service.
• The prepaid quota has been depleted and the user needs to make a top-up • Access Control Core functions
• Access Control
of his account. • Enforce Policy
• Enforce Policy • Access Control
• Enforce Policy
• A user needs to confirm a charge such as 5 USD for one day of Wi-Fi access Access • DHCP/DNS • Web Server
• Web Server • DHCP/DNS Server Additional 3rdrd party
party
even if he has been automatically authenticated through, for instance, SIM- Controller • “Extras” • “Extras” • DHCP/DNS
Access
Access
authentication. • Online/Offline • Online/Offline
accounting • Online/Offline acc. accounting Gateway
Gateway
• Bill-shock prevention, requiring a user to acknowledge that he has received • DPI • DPI
information that his quota has been reached.
Aptilo Access Controller™ (AC) Hybrid Deployment 3rd party Access Gateway
• A user temporarily wants to change the service e.g. to increase the band-
Aptilo AC deployed behind
width for video-on-demand. 3rd party Access Gateway

The Aptilo AC can also be deployed behind third-party Wi-Fi access gateways
The use of captive portal technology is a very powerful tool for pro- and Wi-Fi access point controllers to enable functionality that cannot otherwise
viding differentiated services in real-time and a prerequisite when be obtained, in these cases the Aptilo AC becomes a critical service enabler.
launching prepaid services with on-line sign-up models.

• Web pages • Web pages

• Payment logic Prepaid and Charging
• Self-care logic
Web • Web pages • Payment logic
External
• Payment logic • Self-care logic API to SMP External The Aptilo Prepaid & Charging subsystem can check-out and han-
Portals • Self-care logic API to Web pages 
Web
Web
Portals
Portals dle quotas from third-party prepaid (PPS) / online charging (OCS)
systems or act as a standalone prepaid system for data services.
Aptilo’s pre-integrated portals Hybrid Deployment Use of external portals
The tight integration with the Aptilo Policy PCRF+ core allows for
Instead of using the pre-integrated portals in the Aptilo SMP, you are free to use unprecedented creativity in defining new differentiated services.
any existing or third-party portals. Or you could use a mix of the two to enable
Aptilo’s system makes it possible to activate charging models based
functionality that cannot ​otherwise be obtained.
on for instance:
• Volume-based rating
• Duration-based rating
Statistics and Reporting
• Time-of-day and day-of-week charging with differentiated rating
The statistics and reporting function resides in the Aptilo Service • Prepaid charging of ad-hoc users
Portal™ (see separate data sheet) and complements the Aptilo • Subscription-based charging for prepaid accounts, optionally with recurring
credit card charging
SMP by being the main tool for automatic processing and display • Start cost and minimum charges
of data output from the provided service. This includes storage of
usage information and events as well as aggregated statistics and • Charging
• Charging
monitoring data. Prepaid • Charging • Check-out quota fr. existing PPS
• Quota mgmt for sessions • Rating
• Rating
& • Quota mgmt • Redirect to portal for top-up  Interface  Existing
Exissting
The data is accessible through Venue Portals created in the Aptilo Charging • Online payment • Return quota existing PPS • Quota mgmt
• Online payment
Prepaid
Prepaid
• Rating System
System
Service Portal. Different venue portals can be tailored with specific • Online payment

information for multiple groups of users such as network adminis- Aptilo’s prepaid system (PPS) Hybrid Deployment Use of existing PPS
trators, customer care staff, customer support, managers, market
In the hybrid deployment, the Aptilo Prepaid & Charging subsystem handles
analysts, roaming partners and venue owners.
a temporary quota received from the existing PPS / OCS system and thereby
alleviates the need for the often costly high-frequency interaction between the
policy enforcement nodes and the existing PPS / OCS (prepaid) system.
 A multitude of payment options including credit card, vouchers,
premium SMS, Scratch cards and more can be executed through
the native payment support in the Aptilo Web Portals subsystem
or through integration with external systems.
With the fast development of server hardware it is important to go
with a server platform that can offer the best price-performance-
ratio. We have chosen the industry standard Intel-based hard-
ware because we believe that it will provide the most cost-effec-
tive server platform for delivering additional performance by just
adding another server. This architecture offers economy of scale
thanks to its pure volume in number of units and the service pro-
vider will not risk doing large investments in individual high perfor-
mance servers that may not fit the purpose at the end.

Aptilo ServiceGlue™
Aptilo ServiceGlue™ is an integral part of the Aptilo SMP and the
smart new way to deploy wireless services. With the Aptilo Service
Glue new customer adapted logic can to be added by configuration.

The Aptilo Prepaid & Charging subsystem creates Call Detail Records
(CDRs) for billing and can minimize the number of CDRs which Aptilo ServiceGlue™
are necessary to handle for the billing of each user session. It can Lookups &
SOAP/XML
Configurable Functions parameter LDAP

aggregate CDRs that are generated between the policy enforce- 100
mapping RADIUS
Diameter

ment nodes and the billing/mediation systems. Together with Apti- Request
IDI
OSS
OSS
101 102
lo’s PCRF+ Core the aggregated CDRs are generated at a rate based Action Loo
Lo
ookkup
kup
up

on the configured policy and the status of each session, e.g. roam- 103 104
BSS
BSS

Action/Post
ing or non-roaming. The policy that controls the CDR generation
Request
Gateway
105 HLR/HSS
Action
rate can be based on any parameter that is available, e.g. data from Lookup
Look up

Action
the policy enforcement nodes, customer profile, network session, Lookup
Look up

PCRF
traffic session and/or user session. Action R
Request
t

Scalability and Reliability Diameter, RADIUS, BGP Diameter, RADIUS

With Aptilo’s next-generation architecture you can take the scalabil-

ity issue out of the equation and obtain a linear scalability when add-
ing more servers. The functionality is divided into three distinct layers: The Aptilo ServiceGlue features advanced configurable ruleset-
• A management layer for configuration and monitoring based functions. The functions can receive requests and triggers
• A control layer for protocol-level interactions with external systems from gateways and other nodes such as PCRFs and CRM systems,
• An execution layer for application logic processing process advanced rule-set based configurable logic, and then push
Application the required actions back to the external gateways and systems.
ALE Architecture Management
Note that one request can result in multiple actions toward differ-
Management
Application Management Layer
Plane ent nodes in the wireless network.
System
Management
The functions can utilize the intelligent database interface in Aptilo
ServiceGlue to perform multiple lookups and intelligently map the
Application Control Layer
different parameters from these sources to another set of param-
External Systems
Add servers for linear scalability
eters in the wireless network or other nodes and systems.
Node 1 Node n

Based on the result from these intelligent lookups, new functions can
Application Execution Layer be triggered in the Aptilo ServiceGlue building up a highly flexible logic.

Node 1
Add redundant server pairs
for linear scalability Node n
In a mobile data offloading scenario, policy decisions can involve
lookups from several locations and then be intelligently mapped to
the corresponding parameters in the Wi-Fi network.
The different layers are distributed over several server nodes to With the Aptilo ServiceGlue logic, the Aptilo Service Management
increase capacity where it is needed most and obtain high availabil- Platform becomes a powerful glue between the OSS/BSS/Core and
ity including geographic redundancy and disaster recovery. the wireless network, providing truly unique capabilities.

About Aptilo Networks Americas

Aptilo Networks is a leading provider of systems to manage mobile data services for Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3G/LTE networks, +1-866 861 3900
including mobile data offloading. Aptilo’s carrier-class solutions boast pre-integrated authentication, policy control and
charging functions to maximize functionality and fast-track deployments while minimizing impact on existing systems. Asia / Middle East
Aptilo has a proven interoperability with vendors in the wireless echo-system and a multitude of interfaces and APIs for +60 3 2780 6900
seamless integration to external systems of choice. Customers can enjoy the option of a hosted delivery using Aptilo www.aptilo.com
Managed Service™ provided as a cloud service from one of our many regional data centers located worldwide, or handled Europe / Africa info@aptilo.com
remotely by Aptilo’s experts from servers at customer premises. Aptilo’s solutions are currently in operation in more than +46-8 5089 8900 v6 05-2013 © Copyright Aptilo Networks
60 countries.