- New three-tier architecture, Windows NT client, and UNIX/NT SMP support
- Telecom industry’s most powerful and flexible call rating and pricing engine
UK-based Intec Telecom Systems, a fast-growing telecoms software specialist backed by high-tech investment group NATH, has begun installing a new generation of its market-leading telecoms inter-carrier settlement and billing system, InterconnecT. Version 5 of InterconnecT introduces a completely new three-tier client/server architecture designed to meet the performance, scalability, security and functionality needs of the worldwide deregulated telecoms market through the Year 2000.
Among the wide range of enhancements in Version5 are exclusive use of an ORACLE database to store all call data, reference, pricing, summary and audit trail information, a new Windows NT-based client for all system interactions, and support for the latest multi-processor UNIX and NT servers. V5.1 has already been installed by a number of Intec Telecom Systems’ telco clients, including Worldcom, diAx of Switzerland, SIRIS of France, Infostrada of Italy and Telkom South Africa.
V5.1 of InterconnecT also introduces substantial new functionality to the process of settling and billing between telcos. InterconnecT is able to handle the most complex call rating situations ranging from standard national and international telephony (including ITU) through to sophisticated telecom products like Number Portability, Virtual Private Networks, Mobile communications, Voice-over-IP and Internet services. “The architecture and development for V5.1 is the result of extensive customer and market input ,” says Kevin Adams, MD of Intec Telecom Systems. “The telecoms market has become so complex and competitive that effective interconnect charging and charge auditing can make the difference between profit and loss for a telco. V5.1 takes away the problems and uncertainty that have dogged interconnect agreements and charging, and gives its users a significant competitive advantage over telcos that use less sophisticated technology.” The power and functionality of Interconnect V5.1 has been endorsed by some high-profile users around the world:
Tore Solberg, Carrier Operations Manager at new Swiss telco diAx, who is responsible for his company’s relationship with its interconnect partners such as Swisscom, said; “InterconnecT is the most advanced billing and settlement system available, with a very strong rating engine. It was the only solution which met all of our functionality needs without modifications, and it also offered us the best price/performance ratio. And only Intec Telecom Systems could prove that it had previously successfully implemented its solution in short timescales.”
The introduction in InterconnecT of a standard ORACLE database to manage all call and billing data was identified by new mobile start-up Connect Austria as a major advantage: “Direct access to our interconnect data and financial information, using standard interfaces and database enquiry tools against the ORACLE database, will be very useful,” says Connect Austria’s interconnect specialist, Tor Arne Knutsen.
A key innovation with InterconnecT V5.1 is the use of a ‘three-tier’ client server architecture, using a new Windows NT Workstation-based client, and powerful UNIX or Windows NT multi-processor servers (up to 16 CPUs) for the core call-rating and pricing processes, and the database tier. This distributed, load-balancing configuration is designed to be highly-scalable to suit the highest call volumes, and the most complex rating and pricing agreements. HP, Digital, Sun, and Windows NT servers are supported.
This unprecedented level of scalability allows both call volume growth and more operational flexibility with interconnect agreements. Connect Austria has implemented InterconnecT on a dual-processor Hewlett Packard UNIX server. The company has set itself a target of processing all call data within 8 hours, leaving 16 hours in any one day for reprocessing or repricing calls, an inevitable activity in a very complex and competitive market. Connect Austria has dimensioned the system to handle over 500,000 calls per day in its first year, with ambitious growth beyond that.
InterconnecT V5.1 features the industry’s most powerful and flexible call rating engine - the heart of the system. InterconnecT validates and prices call event data (CDRs) received from the CDR Feeder, for calls entering, leaving or transiting a telco’s network, according to the billing reference data set up. Priced call information is stored in the ORACLE database, with reports available on-line for checking on the success of the run, i.e. the number of events successfully priced and those rejected, as well as a full audit trail.
InterconnecT supports both cascade and direct billing methods, indirect access and premium rate services, Element Based Charging (as used by BT and others), revenue sharing, national and international traffic including international settlements based on ITU rules. InterconnecT can also process zero duration calls reflecting the trend for charging all network events. External interfaces to other business processes are another new feature of InterconnecT V5.1, allowing telcos to integrate interconnect charging with corporate accounting and ERP systems like SAP R/3, or to use business intelligence techniques like data warehousing to extract additional value from interconnect data. Tore Solberg of diAx added; “InterconnecT is the most flexible system in terms of coping with change in our very dynamic market; as a growing company, diAx is confident that InterconnecT will support rapid growth. Also InterconnecT offers excellent management information to support our pricing, marketing, finance and other decision making needs.”