Automatic for the network: BellSouth Cellular eases SS7 configuration with NetPilot

The real grace of SS7 functionality for any network is its ability to act as a virtual conductor, directing different portions of call data through a maze of network components and ensuring that everything fits together harmoniously. Network operators rely on the SS7 network to perform critical functions such as service activation and number portability.

For most wireless carriers, however, reliance on the SS7 network to perform those tasks has been subject to the manual upkeep of the software tables contained in its many signal transfer points (STPs), which serve as the vertebrae in the signaling network. These components house the software databases that contain the vital information for every signal ported through them. Although the SS7 network is crucial to many functions required for wireless network performance, few wireless carriers have opted to automate the process to date.

Now, BellSouth Cellular is using Bellcore's NetPilot system to automate the configuration of those STPs, making it the first wireless operator to license the Bellcore product for use in its network. In doing so, BellSouth Cellular is equipping itself not only to reduce the cost of SS7 network management and upkeep but also to deliver advanced services-some of them government-mandated-in the immediate future.

"Configuration management is doing the translation at the STP to get the messages routed to the correct mobile switch," said Alan Johns, manager of network strategic planning and implementation at BellSouth Cellular. "Our primary goal with NetPilot was to do that automatically so that we didn't have to do it manually."

One of the benefits of an automated configuration system is that it eliminates the need for programmers to know the nuances of every STP variety, which is important because most carriers use components from multiple vendors as part of their intelligent network architecture.

NetPilot automatically provides centralized, transparent STP provisioning across equipment from multiple suppliers (see figure).

"NetPilot takes all the manual effort out of it," said Jeffrey Saadeh, Bellcore's principal product specialist. "Technologists don't have to understand the man/machine language of each of the STPs."

The NetPilot system is housed at a wireless carrier's wireless intelligent network operations center and features a graphical user interface that provides a centralized view of all network STPs via Sun Microsystems servers and workstations. It supports STPs from Tekelec, Lucent Technologies, Northern Telecom, DSC Communications and Ericsson.

One network function that hinges on automated configuration management is local number portability (LNP), which is mandated by the 1996 Telecommunications Act as a way of opening markets to competition from more local service hopefuls. LNP raises the number of STP translations required in the signaling network to more than 16 million per service provider, according to Bellcore. Therefore, automating those translations makes LNP implementation faster and more cost-effective.

BellSouth Cellular, however, did not purchase NetPilot for the express purpose of facilitating LNP. Rather, the carrier is using it to improve its SS7 functionality for services such as roaming, enhanced service implementation and network interconnection.

For example, BellSouth Cellular has roaming agreements with multiple wireless carriers, each one requiring the exchange of signaling data via SS7.

"They're using it to provision their STPs more efficiently," said Saadeh.

"One of the drivers is the growing size of the SS7 network," said Jim McDevitt, executive director for element management systems at Bellcore. "When the number of STPs continues to grow because of the growth of enhanced services like caller ID and call forwarding, that requires more translations in the STPs."

BellSouth Cellular also plans to use NetPilot as a source for database backup, which is a crucial part of network operation and particularly important in the case of an emergency.

"We see that as an advantage in a disaster recovery situation," said Jim McGarrah, director of network services at BellSouth Cellular. "If we dump a database for some reason, we can rapidly restore it without a lot of re-keying."

Part of the reason BellSouth Cellular has not yet adopted NetPilot as a way to facilitate number portability is that it looks at LNP implementation in two phases. To date, the carrier has not yet decided how it will complete the latter phase, pending possible revision from the FCC.

"We're very close in our analysis of how we're going to approach the call completion and routing piece," said McGarrah. "We don't have a direction yet on wireless number portability. Part of that is due to the uncertainty about whether the FCC mandate is going to change."

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