Policy Management & Beyond!

ActionRuler™ is a state-of-the-art Policy Control & Management solution for addressing the full spectrum of business requirements, from intelligent charging and control of network resources to personalized services.

ActionRuler™ naturally evolved from INTRACOM TELECOM's own successful software solution portfolio (VAS creation platform, online charging system, IN applications, etc.) and employs Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technologies for tying together subscribers, AAA, OSS / BSS and the network itself.

Combining real-time traffic analysis and a heuristic rules repository, together with subscriber quota & profile information, ActionRuler™ allows operators to:

• Manage traffic with real-time prioritization based on:
  • Service type.
  • Subscriber profile.
  • Access time.
  • Resources availability.
  • Access device type.
• Develop two-sided telecom business and introduce new revenue-generating services.
• Create innovative, personalized services for individual subscribers.
• Enable usage limits, based on subscribers' SLAs, or network conditions.
• Provide statistical and behavioral information for marketing, network optimization and planning purposes.
• Reduce costs by eliminating unfair usage or service cannibalization from off wall-garden service providers (e.g. peer-to-peer, unregulated VoIP, etc.).

ActionRuler™ opens up new horizons for operator growth. Subscribers get the service level they expect and simultaneously have access to compelling offerings and options.

Operators experience new revenues as a result of fair network resources sharing and flexible charging.

ActionRuler™ accommodates a powerful set of features providing unlimited policy management capabilities:

• Intelligent DPI integration assists operators to better utilize IP resources for significant core network savings.
• Intuitive Rules Engine with heuristic rule sets for personalized QoS offerings.
• Highly-scalable platform, based on a pay-as-you-grow license model, for low CapEx & risk-free investment.
• Online charging engine, or integration with external charging systems, allows intelligent charging of operator's offerings.
• Web / WAP redirect portal keeps subscribers aware of all available services and self-care options.
• Reporting engine and offline database enable collection of behavioral statistics from subscribers that can be used for profitable promotional campaigns.
• Advanced rules set for adaptable, personalized QoS configurations and applications, during high load and/or emergency situations, taking into account the subscribers' status and service level.
• HTTP tagging rules set introduces an environment that simplifies Value-Added Services (VAS) creation & content provider integration.

The ActionRuler™ solution allows the creation of numerous high-value applications for augmenting operator service offering.

Indicative ActionRuler™ applications include:

Turbo Button – Bandwidth on Demand

For subscribers already enrolled to low-bandwidth packages and needing high-bandwidth access (either time-based or volume-based) for:

• Uploading / downloading files of large size.
• Viewing live streaming or video content.
• Contributing to gaming sessions over the Internet.

Roaming Cost Control

For setting global pricing rules, as mandated by the respective EU framework, regarding Internet users:

• Price limits for data.
• Maximum limit for data traffic.
• Notifications of costs at threshold prices (e.g. 80% or 100%).
• Subscriber's capability to continue the session when the limit is reached.
• Subscriber's capability to change limits with instant activation.

Parental Control – Content Filtering

For parents / guardians that would like to protect children by limiting Internet usage:

• Limited access to specific services based on time constraints (e.g. limiting LastFM usage to two hours per day).
• Prohibited access to specific URLs (e.g. video sharing websites), or to application categories from the home computer.

Heavy-usage Throttling

For providing several bandwidth control options:

• Limited bandwidth for specific applications during the weekend when the requests for access are immense.
• Unrestricted bandwidth during the rest of the week when the requests for access are much less.
• Enforced bandwidth based on subscriber's current location.

Mobile Device Broadband Throttling

For enabling operators to change the available applications and QoS based on device type. For instance, operator may block peer-to-peer traffic for net books.

The ActionRuler™ platform employs best-of-breed SOA technologies and accommodates pluggable northbound and southbound interfaces for seamless integration into any operator network. The platform is equipped with service-enabling core modules, which allow the rapid deployment of policy applications, as depicted in the figure below.