We, at R Systems, believe that an open PCRF platform generates a number of appealing advantages to mobile operators:
- Lower TCO including lower investment in hardware, lower maintenance and support costs and lower costs associated to new services launch; the cost of replacing the existing PCRF would be soon offset by all these lower costs and the exceeding capabilities of the new platform
- Scalability and flexibility – no vendor lock-in, easy to scale out when additional capacity is needed; furthermore, the platform enabled the operator to adjust the project scope during the solution implementation phase
- The agility (at least two times shorter time to market) with which operators can launch new services on top of the existing platform and adapt it to the ever changing ecosystem qualify it again as the best alternative when considering a future proof PCRF infrastructure
1. Cost effectiveness
- Lower investment in hardware – up to 4 times less hardware investment than in the case of other renowned PCRF solutions
- Lower maintenance and support costs – as support fees are linked to platform costs this concludes in lower M&S costs due to lower initial investment
- Optimized license structure – opportunity to adjust the license model to your evolving needs (eg: license per subscriber, other model)
- Lower costs associated to new services development and testing and to future solution enhancements (e.g.: increase in capacity)
2. Flexibility and scalability
- Opportunity to adjust project scope during solution implementation phase – with closed PCRF platforms it’s almost impossible to adjust the initial scope as the project evolves or during new services development phase
- No vendor lock in – lack of portability, expensive license fees and inability to customize software are some of the major disadvantages of closed PCRF platforms
- Service providers’ empowerment with seamless, on demand services scale out, embedded high availability and clustering, and the ability to easily meet new market demands
- Easy to scale when additional capacity is needed – it requires less hardware and delivers better traffic
3. Time to market (at least 2 times shorter time to market for new services)
- Standardized framework – that enables easy development of new services at lower cost and with significantly reduced time to market (e.g.: ARP functionality implemented in less than 2,5 months while on legacy PCRF platform the estimate was 6+ months, under vendor lock in)
- Zero impact on core PCRF product while/after enhancing the solution with new services
Our recommendation – DigitalRoute’s open PCRF platform
Allow us to introduce the open Policy Control platform from DigitalRoute. It provides superior integration capabilities enabling new policy control applications by unlocking the potential of all data in the service providers’ existing IT and network infrastructure. It extends the use of real-time policy decisions and end-user communication to all business and operations processes that are connected to the customer experience.
Legacy PCRF solution replacement with DigitalRoute’s future proof open PCRF solution – Case Study
A large Eastern European mobile operator with 14 million subscribers was striving with new services launch on their legacy PCRF solution as each new service had to be developed by the solution vendor’s R&D team this increasing the cost and the time needed to launch new services. The mobile operator decided to replace the existing PCRF solution with DigitalRoute’s PCRF platform in order to reduce the time-to-market and the costs associated with new services launch and they chose R Systems as system integrator for the PCRF replacement project. Furthermore, the operator required us as system integrator to develop fast several additional services as follows:
- Introducing GPRS Limiter
- Supporting ARP regulation implementation (Euro Regulation III)
- Packet network modernization
- New complex tariffs introduction
The complete project was delivered in less than 6 months and the success of the project was highlighted by the efficient migration on-site in less than 5 days). We believe that the cost of replacing your existing PCRF would be soon offset by significantly lower cost of support and exceeding capabilities of the new platform.