Ericsson Service-Aware Policy Controller

Description

The Ericsson Service-Aware Policy Controller (SAPC) product is conceived based on 3GPP Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). SAPC is responsible for the policy control and charging rules that define the services and applications supported in mobile, fixed and converged telecom networks. SAPC is key to secure the network behaviour when users access data services, such as, authorizing the services, assigning the QoS of the data-session and the Charging that shall be applied; and performs a business critical role for monetization and differentiation of operator’s mobile and converged broadband commercial packages.

The Ericsson SAPC product is an important component of Ericsson’s solutions for Broadband Networks as Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Mobile Telephony Evolution with VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling, and BSS to name some. 
 
Being compliant with 3GPP standards, the SAPC is fully inter-operable with other network elements, including Packet Gateways (PGW, GGSN), stand-alone packet inspection nodes (DPI), Application Function (AF), User Data Repositories (UDR) and Charging Systems (CS) units.

In addition to the standard capabilities, Ericsson SAPC includes a number of added-value features to increase network efficiency and shorten TTM.

With the SAPC you support, for example, the following use cases:

• Set policies on a per-user or per-user-group basis
• Control access to premium content
• Control access based on accumulated usage
• Use quality of service control to ensure an enhanced user experience for services requiring a high or varying bandwidth
• Optimize utilization of network resources by applying quality-of-service control
• Select the radio access technology for a subscriber to attach to
• Select a core network instance

Ericsson SAPC supports also the revenue generation:

• Personalizing services – making services more user-friendly to increase usage and builds loyalty
• Maintaining fair-usage policies – preventing users of file-sharing services from violating terms and conditions of their subscription
• Differentiating service offerings – introducing different tiers of subscriptions with different characteristics depending on, for example, network load or time of day.

Personalized service offering

• SAPC provides the ability to authorize and offer personalized services increasing service usage and making stronger customer relationship as a result of a better usability.
• The use of Ericsson Service-Aware Policy Controller policies allows operators to easily launch creative and personalized offers, based on a wide set of parameter including the user profile, time of day, location, service type, QoS profile, etc.
• Network efficiency
• QoS control per subscriber and service basis permits an accurate bandwidth management allowing operators to increase revenues by optimal utilization of network resources and also makes possible for the operator to protect QoS for its high revenue generating services, assuring always the required resources for a satisfactory execution.
• Additionally, SAPC can select the radio access in a dynamic way allowing operators to protect their investments by using all the radio technologies in an even way.
• SAPC can interconnect with the SDN Controller to fully optimize the service chaining depending on the subscriber activity.

Flexibility

• SAPC’s policy engine is the most flexible engine in the market allowing a high level of programmability and a high number of different rules.
• The use of policies per subscriber or subscriber group allows operators to easily customize their service access rules to match ever-changing market requirements.
• Its is possible to select between an internal DB or to integrate with an existing DB where to get the subscription information and supports a layered deployment.
• It can be integrated with the BSS system in a light way (Sy) or a tight way (ESy) giving important advantages in TTM and OPEX reduction.

Full interoperability

• Based on 3GPP standards, it allows full interoperability with any Ericsson or non-Ericsson nodes compliant with 3GPP interfaces.
• Moreover, SAPC supports valued-added mechanisms to adapt to other vendors’ proprietary parameters added on top of the standard ones. Therefore Ericsson Policy Controller is suitable to work in a multi-vendor environment.

Availability/Reliability

• SAPC meets Carrier Grade High Availability requirements, its availability is more than 99.997%.
• SAPC has internal replication in a 1:m fashion.
• Geographical Redundancy is fully supported.
• A single hardware failure does not stop the operation of the node.
• Function changes are possible without disturbance to real-time traffic.

User Experience (UX)

• Best-in-class Graphical User Interface.
• The product structure allows for fast upgrades that are seamless to end-users.
• Future Proof
• NFV and Cloud with support for Ericsson and non-Ericsson IaaS.
• Support for massive and critical IoT.
• Ready for 5G.

Efficient and flexible operations

Centralized policy management functions help reduce CAPEX and OPEX. With the SAPC you are able to set policies on a per-user or per-user-group basis, giving them the flexibility to customize service access rules to match changing market requirements.

The SAPC is designed to work as a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) in IMS networks and in the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network architecture according to SAE.

SAPC is the leader in Policy Management

Ericsson's policy management market leadership has been recognized by leading industry analyst Current Analysis in their most recent evaluation of the Policy Management market.

As their report says: “The Ericsson Service-Aware Policy Controller (SAPC) is a leader among compared policy control solutions. Ericsson’s SAPC includes extensive wireless access network and backhaul integration in addition to the company’s own online charging system (OCS)/offline charging system (OFCS), policy control enforcement function (PCEF)/deep packet inspection (DPI) and subscriber data management (SDM) products. These capabilities provide the SAPC with an unparalleled IP network reach supported with strong 3GPP interface compliance and wide, although unnamed, third-party interoperability credentials. Ericsson continues to optimize its policy assets to provide high availability and carrier-grade end-to-end support for VoLTE services and NFV/cloud adoption. Over 200 customer engagements validate Ericsson’s technology, providing the company with deep experience and ongoing exposure to the evolving requirements of the policy control market.”

A copy of the aforementioned report can be acquired directly with Current Analysis.