Network Policy Control

With Network Policy Control, Service Providers gain a comprehensive solution that manages bandwidth, access to applications and services, and quality of service — in real time and on a per-subscriber, per-session basis.

Service Providers know that to stay competitive and reduce subscriber churn, they need to deliver the latest technologies, applications, and services with a high quality of service (QoS). They also know that they need to do all of this while controlling costs, and still maintaining existing revenue streams and profitability levels. The best way to achieve these goals is to centralize the management of the subscriber experience in relationship to the network resources using policy control.

The Bridgewater Systems Policy Controller - network policy control feature enables the creation of business rules defined by subscriber information and preferences, network resource allocation, and application definition. This subscriber-centric policy management approach centralizes all business rules for management of network availability around the subscriber and subscriber's choices of content and applications. The network policy control feature allows Service Providers to clearly define and manage the subscriber experience.

At a Glance

Network Control Features of the Policy Controller

The ability to dynamically manage the subscriber experience and allow subscribers to make choices that give them access to a variety of available experiences is at the heart of Policy Controller.

• Reduce capital expenses by efficiently controlling and optimizing use of network resources on a per-subscriber, per-session, or per-application basis
• Increase customer satisfaction by:
  • ensuring that bandwidth quality of service is available for all by enforcing fair-use policies
  • applying QoS controls to precious network resources to eliminate "bandwidth abuse."
• Offer bandwidth-on-demand service upgrades in real time — such as "turbo boosts" and service-tier upgrades — to capitalize on incremental revenue opportunities.
• Increase revenue with differentiated content services with QoS guarantees or prioritization.
• Reduce operating costs by enabling deployment of self-care portals for subscribers and customer service representatives (CSRs).
• Improve the subscriber experience by delivering instant gratification for service needs — including immediate upgrades and self-care options.
• Reduce operating expenses by providing comprehensive network policy control in an IMS and a non-IMS environment.
• Additionally, Policy Controller incorporates the standards-based Policy Control and Rating Function (PCRF) as defined by 3GPP, TISPAN, and 3GPP2, and the Policy Function, as defined by the WiMAX Forum.

Features and Benefits

• Centralized policy data store supports flexible, highly configurable controls — Improves customer satisfaction by providing real-time control of the subscriber's network experience
• Real-time metering — Applies QoS by service tier, sets and enforces bandwidth thresholds in real time, and redirects users to a payment portal when appropriate to increase revenue and subscriber satisfaction
• Automatic flow-through to back-end systems — Interacts with operations and business support systems automatically when QoS is adjusted.
• Real-time mid-session modification — Provides immediate service response and instant control over bandwidth usage and enables modifications to be initiated by subscribers or customer service portals to increase customer satisfaction.
• Subscriber redirection — Pushes to a web portal based on pre-set usage thresholds or other criteria to reduce operating costs and increase customer satisfaction by providing a quick and efficient method of communicating with the customer.
• Self-care portal framework — Easy-to-use web interface integrates with Service Providers' existing environments and supports role-based levels of administrative control and subscriber self-care.
• Carrier-grade scalability and performance — Supports more than 125 million subscribers and handles 14 billion transactions per month.
• Support for deep packet inspection solutions — Integrates with numerous industry-leading devices to provide a comprehensive policy decision and enforcement solution.
• Service enablement — Allows for on-demand options to tap into new revenue opportunities, improve the overall subscriber experience, and drive up ARPU. Examples include:
  • Bandwidth turbo boosts
  • Service tiers for specific target groups
  • Content-triggered QoS
  • Casual access support for WiMAX enabling new services such as no-touch registration and prepaid time-based metering
  • CDMA time-based metering for alternative access allowing support for differentiated charging based on access method