Virtualisation is at the top of communications service providers’ (CSPs) agendas. It doesn’t just affect network hardware, software and BSS in particular need to virtualise as well. Here, Mathias Liebe introduces Orga Systems’ GOLD Convergent Charging and Billing Release 3.0 and explains why the system has gone virtual.
Virtualisation is one of the hottest topics discussed in the telecoms industry today but in practice it is not new at all. During the past decade server virtualisation for x86 hosts has matured and won acceptance in the data centres, being used by more than 90% of all companies around the globe. Today, the amount of virtualised workloads exceeds the amount of workloads running on bare-metal.
But server virtualisation is just the beginning of the journey. Software defined networks (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) are now entering the IT landscape, changing CSPs’ ecosystems and IT operations by pushing data centre automation and cloud-based services into the headlines. CSPs have to face a growing complexity and have to pro-actively manage their computing base in order to become as versatile and agile as the virtualised architecture itself. Therefore CSPs will need a scalable and robust billing system that can be deployed as an online charging cloud that is IT-based and supports virtualised network functions (VNF) such as policy control and real-time session management.
Tasks like balancing workloads, managing downtime or simplifying and extending disaster recovery have to be mastered; all of them being compelling attributes to operate mission-critical applications such as billingand charging on virtualised systems.
Virtualisation support for all revenue management functions
To support CSPs in applying virtualisation technologies, Orga Systems will launch a new release
of its flagship product GOLD Convergent Charging and Billing (GOLD CCB) at this year’s Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona. In this context Orga Systems initiated a comprehensive programme to qualify its
GOLD product family for virtualised systems by working together with hardware and software vendors
such as VMware, Red Hat and Dell.
This includes the offering of a reference architecture and an operational concept to plan and operate all revenue management functions in a virtualised environment. While the reference architecture serves as a baseline for any CSP to plan his system environment, the operational concept will provide practical advice for integration and operation of the virtualised stack. With this approach and the release of GOLD CCB 3.0 Orga Systems tremendously enhances capabilities to support cloud services and NFV orchestration.
