Tekelec Promotes New Diameter Network Vision

Tekelec is spreading its message about the New Diameter Network this week at Mobile World Congress.

The New Diameter Network is what Tekelec calls its vision to enable facilities-based service providers to manage and monetize mobile data growth. Jason Emergy, Tekelec’s director of Product Management, explains that the New Diameter Network consists of charging systems, gateways, policy servers, session and mobility management equipment, and subscriber databases.

All of the above is important, he explains, because service providers need infrastructure that addresses policy and can manage subscriber data if they want to better monetize their networks. He adds that there’s more to Diameter than connecting network elements. Diameter, he says, allows for the integration and cooperation of network resources to enable new customer features (like the ability for mobile users to increase QoS for a limited time to view video) and service packages.

Tekelec says new mobile usage-based services are driving the need for more Diameter signaling. In fact, company sources say, 100 percent of LTE services will run over Diameter.

Diameter is what it’s all about these days, says Emery, who adds that it’s not just about the applications, it’s about providing integrated solutions that are powered by routing, policy and subscriber data.

Infonetics Research has called Tekelec a “front runner” in the emerging Diameter signaling market. The vendor’s key customers on this front include Verizon Wireless.

Tekelec’s New Diameter Network portfolio includes the Diameter Signaling Router, which relays messages among all Diameter-based network elements in 3G, IMS and LTE networks; the Policy Server, which sets real-time business rules for managing network resources, prioritizing subscribers, applications and devices, and defining services; the User Data Repository, which front ends databases like home subscriber servers; and the EAGLE XG middleware.

Brian Partridge, vice president of Yankee Group's Network Research, says “Deploying infrastructure to support a dedicated Diameter control plane puts service providers in the best long-run position to monetize network resources and subscriber profile data. Vendors that can deliver a broad Diameter control plane solution will see increasing demand as LTE network roll-outs ramp up worldwide.”