Jan 1, 2002 12:00 PM,

Mediation

BY TIM McELLIGOTT AND AMALIA D. PARTHENIOS

Mediation is no longer just a billing feed. It provides sustenance for the measurement of network performance and the gathering of business intelligence. It helps blow the whistle on fraud and warms the engines of activation. Mediation has become a multipurpose process in a multitechnology world. However, if it can't help carriers find new ways to squeeze money out of their networks, the rest is just a bell that will never ring or a whistle that never blows.

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Money is the key to survival and nowhere is there more to be made than in the wireless market. According to a report released in December, IDC predicts the worldwide packet-based wireless billing market will catapult from $94.6 million in 2001 to $855.7 million in 2005. It can't do that through flat rate billing. Mediation vendors will have to answer the challenge. They stand at the threshold of opportunity, but for some that opportunity could just as well be lost. Almost 60% of carriers in a recent Yankee Group study said they were considering replacing their mediation platforms. The following is a snapshot of leading contenders.

The biz	The birth	The buzz	The box	What rocks	The hype	The help	The validation Customers include
AceComm	1983	Got the smarts but still smarting from downturn	Convergent Mediation	Range — Convergent Mediation platforms range from simple data capture systems for small providers and enterprises to full systems that do usage analysis, network planning and service level monitoring with other carriers./N*Vision pricing and costing solutions/Data warehousing feature/Early jump on the SIP bandwagon.	“Simply put, AceComm offers experience, innovation and proven customer success. We can efficiently bridge the gap between classical wireless and next-generation wireless and IP-based networks. We have the broadest range of experience and one of the most prolific customer installed bases. Given our vast global experience, we know better than anyone else the business and engineering issues faced by evolving wireless networks,” — George Jimenez, CEO at AceComm	“Over the last year, Ace*Comm has suffered because of the economic times, although I think they will pull it out. They are definitely somebody that's been around the mediation space for sometime and have a lot of knowledge about what it takes to provide a billing mediation solution. So their outlook is good.” — Jason Briggs, senior analyst, The Yankee Group.	Citizens Communications, Birch Telecom, Korea Telecom, TelMex
Comptel	1986	The big kahuna needs to work on tomorrow's legacy	Comptel Mediation Solutions	MDS Suite of solutions covers event mediation, provisioning, balance management, network and partner account and content and service mediation./Modular, network independent solutions across all network types: MDS for 3G does event mediation and provisioning. Chinchilla does content and service mediation and MDS for Internet supports GPRS and 2.5G	“Comptel is the global leader in providing mediation solutions. We are providing billing mediation solutions to all network types and are particularly strong in wireless networks. As a vendor-independent solution, we [offer] cost efficiency for wireless operators whose technical evolution is changing constantly. We are also very well-prepared with our solutions to meet the technical evolution and changes that wireless operators are facing, [thereby] making Comptel a long-term partner.” — Heikki Tetri, president and CEO, Comptel	“Comptel is the largest wireless billing mediation vendor in the world. And their outlook is quite good. They started in the wireless market, and they're sticking to it. So as carriers migrate to 2.5G and 3G, Comptel has a lot of credibility within the space. Many may consider them legacy and have a hard time getting over them [doing] just voice mediation. So the credibility of saying they can bridge the gap between voice and data remains to be seen.” — Briggs.	Belgacom, BT Cellnet, Deutsche Telekom, KPN Orange (Belgium), Swisscom, Globalstar Northern Europe
Ericsson/EHPT	1993	Everything but the States	Content Management Solution	New focus with single ownership by Ericsson./New version 3.0 of CMS mediation platform provides low-cost migration path to content-based billing./Java-based development kit for initiating new packet collection jobs and related correlation rules.	“With over 200 installations worldwide, our systems integration expertise and modular solutions offerings, including content rating, activation, fraud management and business intelligence analysis, we're considerably expanding the value and functionality of our mediation solution. We are empowering our customers with the tools to cost-efficiently manage the transition to content-based revenue streams.” — Bruce Dines, president of Ericsson customer management solutions.	“EHPT has a [good] track record in international markets. They have been trying to establish a presence in the U.S., but haven't been getting a lot of traction. That will continue to be a challenge for them. As for being knowledgeable and having experience — they do. They also have a huge R&D team and backing from Ericsson. That is important to sustain the company.” — Ferial Shomloo, analyst at Stratecast Partners.	Rogers AT&T (Canada), Wingast, Vodafone, Orange, TSI
Hewlett-Packard	1998	Reliable, smart and expensive	HP OpenView Internet Usage Manager	Patented distributed rules engine and distributed data store architecture for better correlation capabilities./100% Java-based, it runs on most platforms including HP-UX, Solaris, Linux, Windows NT, Windows NT TSE and Windows 2000./IUM Pre-paid Data Solution has extensions to 2.5 G and 3G mobile data networks.	“With HP Internet Usage Manager, service providers enjoy greater profitability from mobile services by using the convergent IUM solution to capture service usage. IUM provides carriers with easier integration in the mobile network, a more efficient way to manage the mediation data stream and pre-paid and post-paid billing flexibility with minimal impact on existing rating and billing infrastructure.” — Vikash Varma, general manager HP OpenView IUM.	“HP's products are well thought of throughout the industry. Its strength is that it has a lot more capital behind it, but the corporation is in flux with the Compaq acquisition. There is some turmoil there. They are not a rock, but they are a rock in this market.” — Daniel Longfield, analyst, Frost & Sullivan.	Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Telstra, Korea Telecom, Sprint
Lucent Technologies	1996	Huge installed base	Billdats Data Manager	Part of Kenan Next Generation Mobile Software/Extensive portfolio of switch interfaces./Feature modules include: Generic Record Identification Module, which allows the definition of record templates. The Correlation Module combines usage information from different sources into a single record./Edit and Validation module runs customized integrity checks on incoming and outgoing data.	“Billdats Data Manager supports any device, across all types of networks including mobile and advanced IP. The product is designed to enable mobile operators to adapt rapidly to changing market conditions and grow with their evolving business needs.” — Robert Kiburz, vice president and general manager, Lucent Technologies billing and customer care.	“Lucent's strength is its customer base and track record for the billing engine. Billdats is an old-timer for traditional voice usage collection, but it's pretty new on the IP side. Lucent could leverage its installed base and make the same kind of track record for the mediation side.” — Shomloo.	Cingular Wireless, Telecom New Zealand
Narus	1998	Cutting edge, vanguard of IP mediation	Narus Mobile Internet Decision Support Solution	Decision Support solutions provide visibility into application and service usage/Interactive platform for mobile pre-paid./Content and Premium Services mediates subscriber usage by volume, network event or application/URL.	“Operators want assurance they are deploying carrier-grade infrastructure scaleable to millions of subscribers. They choose Narus to enforce their policies for content-based services in real time. They turn to us for the integrity of their customer usage intelligence, whether the information is measured by time, content or activity.” — CEO Mark Stone	“Narus and Xacct are both cutting edge as far as data billing mediation. They're seen as the vanguards of IP billing mediation. [But] they have to overcome the small company, entrepreneur company syndrome.” — Longfield.	BT, Cable & Wireless, Williams, Digital Island, Yipes and iBasis
Openet Telecom	1999	Maintaining early momentum	FusionWorks	Dynamic Business Engine — supports customizable intelligent rule sets for supporting changing business and network infrastructures./Convergent mediation that unifies usage across wireless, wireline and IP networks./Statistics generator used for network planning. Good example of Yankee's NDM concept.	“Our Mediation product was designed from the very beginning to be absolutely convergent and to handle Tier 1 data rates. Therefore, it really does not matter what technologies are used in the network. We can cost-effectively converge all of the usage information and give carriers a unified picture of what their customers are doing in real time. We believe that a fair and detailed examination of the total cost of mediation will always lead to the selection of FusionWorks.” — CEO Barry Murphy	“Openet has built a lot of credibility and is maintaining a buzz in the marketplace for being the new guy and signing a lot of carriers (AT&T Wireless most notably.) It was a pretty tireless process AT&T put the whole industry though in terms of testing various platforms. [Winning] that account says a lot about that product.” — Briggs.	AT&T, BT, CMG
Xacct Technologies	1998	This minx got MANX	XacctMobile	Convergent platform supports GPRS, UMTS and IP/Part of Xacct's Network-to-Business Platform, a bi-directional link between network elements and OSS/BSS/More than 85 OSS/BSS partners/Multisource, multilayer data collection	“XacctMobile has been chosen by several mobile operators around the world, such as BT and Vodafone, because it helps these operators make their networks profitable through the creation of value-based services. We're proud to sayXacctMobile was selected by BT MANX for the world's first 3G implementation on the Isle of Man. Motorola also signed an OEM agreement for their Aspira products.” — Eric Gries, president and CEO	“Xacct [and Narus] have good technology and the IP billing mediation space is increasingly going to be in demand.” — Longfield. “Xacct needs to build credibility within the wireless carriers. [They] are doing so with various partnerships. Xacct is partnering through Motorola and Cap Gemini to expand in that space.” — Briggs	Bell Canada, Bell Nexxia, Broadwing, BT Manx, Cable & Wireless, Colt Telecom, Genuity, ITC Deltacom