TM Forum: HP debuts policy server to drive ‘real-time BSS’

HP (NYSE:HPQ) this week rolled out a new policy server platform that when combined with its existing charging platforms positions the vendor to help service providers and mobile operators deliver, control and more creatively market new services.

The interconnection of policy, charging and network control/enforcement platforms leveraging deep packet inspection (DPI) technology is emerging as a holy triad of sorts, with a slew of vendors delivering pre-integrated versions of those apps or vying to partner up to meet provider needs in this area.

In the past, HP would have partnered with policy vendors such as Camiant or Bridgewater – and still may for certain customer engagements – but its HP Subscriber, Network and Application Policy (SNAP) platform gives the vendor its own policy platform to help carriers manage their networks, services and subscribers, said Nigel Upton , director, Communications and Media Solutions for HP, in an interview at this week’s TM Forum Management World show in Orlando.

“Operators are evolving how they deliver so rapidly,” Upton said. The HP policy server helps how they control bandwidth and access to applications as well as implement new business models such as targeted advertising or marketing promotions, he said.

While DPI and policy servers may have been initially deployed by service providers to solve some basic bandwidth management problems, today providers are looking at these technologies more opportunistically, finding use cases that can solve an immediate problem or quickly drive new revenues, Upton said.

Using network intelligence and policy-driven business rules has taken hold strongly in emerging mobile markets, especially in prepaid, where operators need to make real-time decisions about customer requests for network resources and services.

In the US, the situation is a bit different, as large carriers have used unlimited flat rate data plans to vie for customers – a situation they now have to come to grips with using smarter network technologies, Upton said.

“The US carriers we talk to are between a rock and a hard place,” Upton said. “They are looking at business models in other areas of the world and saying, ‘We want that,’” Upton said. “Flat rate is not a sustainable model for anybody.”

HP’s policy server is part of a large billing/charging platform that HP has now re-named “Real-Time BSS.” HP’s Upton pointed to customers including China Telecom, Hutchison 3G and Vodafone Spain among the customers deploying parts of this new platform, including the new policy server.

The other elements of HP’s Real-Time BSS platform include HP Investigation, which helps service providers respond to data request from law enforcement; and HP Revenue Intelligence, for helping operators better use customer and network data to optimize customer revenues and margins. HP improved both of those applications as well as part of its platform updates this week, Upton said.