BICS Deploys Acme Packet Diameter Director to Enable Global LTE Roaming Services

Acme Packet, a key vendor in session delivery networks, has announced that BICS, a global provider of international carrier services, has chosen and deployed Acme’s Packet Diameter signaling controller solutions.

It has done so to support its global, next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) data and voice roaming exchange services.

Acme Packet was founded in 2000 and is based in Bedford, MA. The company’s core session delivery network solutions are currently in use by over 1,850 customers across more than 100 countries. They include fixed line, cable, mobile, transit and over-the-top (OTT) communication service providers, as well as enterprises, contact centers and government organizations.

Acme has worked with BICS previously, and the new deployment builds on this previous work.

Overall, Acme Packet delivers a comprehensive LTE roaming solution to BICS, addressing all security and control functions for SIP and Diameter.

Net-Net Diameter Director

Acme’s Net-Net Diameter Director enables the exchange of critical subscriber information based on Diameter signaling in next-generation LTE and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks. It is a Diameter signaling controller (DSC) that provides critical control functions for Diameter transactions and sessions.

These control functions – congestion control, mediation and routing – for Diameter signaling enable the seamless exchange of subscriber data and reduce the mesh of Diameter connections that negatively affect network performance, capacity and management.

A key benefit is that it combines numerous standards-based functional elements in a single product: Diameter Routing Agent (DRA), Subscriber Location Function (SLF) and Diameter Edge Agent (DEA).

The Net-Net Diameter Director is supported on Acme Packet hardware and various third-party server platforms. It leverages the Net-Net OS software to offer DSC security and control capabilities for Diameter signaling, performance, carrier-class availability and manageability.

Highlights of the new BICS deployment

BICS has deployed Net-Net Diameter Director specifically to scale its global LTE roaming service, while providing a single connection to mobile service providers for global connectivity. The Net-Net Diameter Director fulfills the GSMA Diameter Edge Agent function.

The solution provides BICS with comprehensive Diameter mediation and interworking functions that allow BICS to accelerate service deployment. It also offers extensive security and traffic management capabilities that protect against network overloads and attacks.

The implementation builds upon an existing Acme installation for managing SIP interconnects in BICS’s IP eXchange (IPX) service. The Net-Net Diameter Director and Net-Net Session Director allow BICS to offer flexible IP-based voice, video and data exchange services without compromising service quality or service availability.

Pierre-André Rulmont, chief technology officer at BICS, notes that “By applying Acme’s IP signaling expertise and field-proven technology to Diameter, the Net-Net Diameter Director provides our customers with important benefits.”

These benefits include, but aren’t limited to:

• Programmable interworking that accelerates time-to-market and customer connections.
• Secure borders for LTE data, voice over LTE, and LTE video services.
• Flexible routing engine that scales roaming services and enforces policy and business logic.

Comprehensive performance management simplifies network planning and service level agreement monitoring.

Rulmont continues, “We’ve successfully used Acme Packet solutions to manage SIP Interconnects in our IPX network since 2007. Acme’s product suite helps us introduce new LTE roaming services quickly and, most importantly, with confidence.”