Mediator Plus is built on a modern state-of-the-art technical architecture. One single convergent platform allows for configuration and execution of any online (real-time) mediation tasks combined with any offline (batch) mediation. The system architecture supports bi-directional communication and can be deployed to integrate network elements and support systems for real-time exchange of session control and usage data. This makes Mediator Plus an ideal platform for real-time request/response integration scenarios commonly seen in prepaid environments and content charging.
Mediator Plus
Monetise your network with a convergent mediation system
Cerillion Mediator Plus is a convergent mediation solution for all types of usage including fixed, mobile, IP, content and transactional systems.
The new generation of telecom services poses many challenges for existing operators and new entrants alike. The multitude of services and the complex network environment combine to place a tremendous burden on the business support systems infrastructure required to price and bill for usage. The mix of IP-based networks and legacy circuit-switched environments plus many new overlaid applications and the rapidly increasing record volumes means that a new breed of specialist mediation system is required to support the complex online and offline charging requirements. Mediation has changed from being merely a collection and re-formatting engine, and has been replaced by more sophisticated needs to correlate usage from multiple sources, in real-time, and ensure all possible usage is turned into billable events.
Cerillion Mediator Plus is a convergent mediation system that provides all the tools needed to turn new service technology into new revenue opportunity in the IP world, including: collection, correlation, duplicate checking, validation, transformation, filtering, distribution, and auditing. It allows a wide range of offline and online deployment scenarios, and the system will grow and evolve in support of network expansion and new application rollouts. Mediator Plus supports a large number of interface protocols off-the-shelf, including: FTP, SFTP, FTAM, TCP/IP, HTTPD, SNMP, Radius, Diameter, SMTP, GTP′ and Web-Services; as well as leading format specification languages such as ASN.1 and XML.
Key Benefits of Cerillion Mediator Plus
Improve time-to-market
Launch new services quickly through configuration, not customisation.
Convergent services
Solve complex data integration challenges with any combination of online and offline processing.
Revenue-enable new services
Use data correlation and enrichment to create new revenue opportunities.
Operational efficiency
Easily test new mediation workflows and then publish to your production environment.
Scalable and robust
Based on an open architecture, Mediator Plus is proven to scale and grow with business demands.
Flexible deployment options
Can be deployed on any Unix / Linux environment to take advantage of the latest low cost and virtualised platforms.
Key Features of Cerillion Mediator Plus
Online and offline mediation
Intuitive user interface
Mediator Plus provides a sophisticated online GUI for managing all system configurations. It is based on a flexible workflow concept, by which operator specific mediation processes and business rules can be modelled, configured, deployed, and maintained through an intuitive graphical user interface.
Upstream and downstream integration
Integration with external systems for data exchange (e.g. network elements, billing systems, etc) is achieved using interface agents, which implement the protocols to be used when communicating with other systems. Mediator Plus supports a large number of protocols off-the-shelf, both for interfacing as well as for secure and consistent operation. Supported protocols include: FTP, SFTP, FTAM, TCP/IP, HTTPD, SNMP, Radius, SMTP, GTP′, SCP, Diameter and Web-Services, as well as proprietary protocols from all leading network equipment vendors.
The modular design of Mediator Plus enables rapid addition of vendor-specific or new industry standard protocols, complementing off-the-shelf agents available in each product release.
Flexible record formatting
Mediator Plus has built-in support for leading format specification languages such as ASN.1 and XML. It provides configuration support for any type of data described in these languages (e.g. GSM, GPRS, TAP/RAP), enabling user-controlled format management through configuration, as opposed to vendor-controlled coding.
Other formats not adhering to a formal specification language are supported through a proprietary specification language (UFDL) by which formatting support for virtually any type of fixed, tagged, or variable length formats (e.g. AMA) may be configured in a similar manner.
Rules-based processing
Mediator Plus uses a core set of functional agents to provide comprehensive processing capabilities. A powerful just-in-time compiled scripting language enables the user to specify the behaviour of these agents and what type of processing is to be performed. Using these agents all core mediation functions can be performed, including analysis, filtering, cloning, splitting, routing, normalisation, correlation and aggregation, de-duplication (on individual record as well as batch/file level), validation, enrichment, and more. Through the use of this scripting language, the standard agents can be configured to support operator-specific business logic without the need for customisation of the standard product.
Standards compliance
SOA – A Service Oriented Architecture is adopted to enable seamless communication between business systems. Mediator Plus provides complete and flexible support for Web-Services, ensuring a smooth SOA migration path for legacy systems.
IMS – Mediator Plus is fully compliant with the latest IP Multimedia Subsystem standards, providing configuration support for any Diameter standard including all variations of Rf and Ro.
High availability deployment
Mediator Plus is built for carrier-grade operation supporting real-time N+1 high-availability configurations. For batch-oriented processing the system includes the ability to have redundant workflow processing servers – if a specific server fails, workflows deployed on that server are automatically re-directed to another available server. Full transactional integrity enables workflows to resume execution on the new server at the last recorded transaction point. For real-time processing, Mediator Plus provides an active/hot-standby configuration including automatic failover to a standby node in the case of active node failure.
Cost effective performance
Mediator Plus is designed from the outset to support carrier-grade, high-performance, hardware-independent deployments. Functionality in any of the access, control, and execution layers may be distributed over any number of servers, or be deployed on one single server, according to the performance and system availability requirements. In this way Mediator Plus’s flexible architecture enables deployment of right-sized and cost-effective mediation solutions for optimal hardware utilisation.
Audit trail and reporting
Mediator Plus supports revenue assurance initiatives by maintaining a detailed audit trail of all records processed through the system. Statistics are stored and standard reports can be produced to summarise record flows at each stage in the mediation process, ensuring no records or files are lost. Mediator Plus is equipped with a Business Objects “universe”, enabling flexible reporting through the industry standard reporting tool.
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Cerillion Mediator Plus FAQs
What is telecom mediation?
Telecom mediation is the process of collecting usage and event data from network elements and service platforms, then preparing it for charging, billing, analytics and other downstream systems.
A mediation system validates, normalises, filters, enriches, correlates and distributes records received in different formats from multiple sources. This creates a consistent and auditable flow of usage data between the network and the communications service provider’s BSS/OSS applications.
Cerillion Mediator Plus is a convergent mediation system supporting fixed, mobile, IP, content and transactional services.
What is the difference between online and offline mediation?
Online mediation processes data in real time, typically using request-and-response interactions between network elements and charging systems. It supports use cases where a service must be authorised, controlled or charged while it is being consumed.
Offline mediation processes batches of usage records after the service has been used. These records are collected, validated, transformed and passed to systems such as billing, interconnect billing, revenue assurance and analytics.
Cerillion Mediator Plus supports online and offline mediation through a single platform, allowing CSPs to manage real-time and batch-processing requirements using common workflows and business rules.
What is a Charging Data Record and how is it used in telecom billing?
A Charging Data Record (CDR) contains information about a communications event, such as its origin, destination, time, duration, service type and network route. Despite the name, similar usage records are also generated for data sessions, messages, content, digital services and other transactions.
A mediation system collects these records from network and service platforms, checks their completeness and validity, converts them into the required format and routes them to the appropriate charging or billing system.
Cerillion Mediator Plus can process CDRs and other usage records across fixed, mobile, IP, content and transactional services.
How do mediation, charging and billing work together?
Mediation collects usage data from network and service platforms and transforms it into consistent records that downstream systems can process. Charging determines the price of each usage event and may authorise services and update customer balances in real time. Billing combines rated usage with recurring fees, one-off charges, discounts and taxes to calculate the amount owed.
Together, these processes create a controlled flow from service usage to revenue collection.
Cerillion Mediator Plus handles online and offline mediation, Cerillion CCS provides convergent charging and real-time balance management, and Cerillion Revenue Manager manages billing and associated financial processes.
How does telecom mediation support revenue assurance?
Telecom mediation supports revenue assurance by helping CSPs ensure that all valid usage is captured and passed accurately to charging and billing systems.
It can identify missing, duplicated, invalid or incorrectly formatted records and maintain an audit trail showing how data has been processed. Record counts and control totals can also be reconciled between source and destination systems to highlight discrepancies that could otherwise result in revenue leakage or incorrect customer charges.
Cerillion Mediator Plus provides duplicate checking, validation, error handling, auditing and record-flow reporting throughout the mediation process.