Rebecca Copeland

Resolving ten MVNO issues with EPS architecture, VoLTE and advanced policy server

The numbers of MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) are growing globally, but so do their operational and business issues. This paper identifies these issues and looks for remedies via the new 4G architecture and interfaces. The paper examines the ‘Full’ MVNO model as a ‘Home’ network in a pseudo roaming scenario (National Roaming), allowing MVNO to connect to multiple MNOs through the discovery and selection process, and to benefit from the access agnostic nature of EPS (Enhanced Packet System). Greater MVNO independence can resolve many of the MVNOs underlying issues, e.g. launching services and variable charging that are enabled by IMS Voice and non-Voice. Other persisting issues are solved by the MVNO defining user centric policies that are conveyed to the MNO transport network through new interfaces for the Policy & Charging Rules Function (PCRF). Particular issues can be resolved by integrating the User Data Repository (UDR) with policies and charging rules. MVNO also need to support the value chain via ‘Sponsored Data’ from service/content providers and receive Traffic Detection Function (TDF) reports on user context and behaviour. This paper argues that these features strengthen the Full MVNO position in the layered business model in EPS, and that the identified issues are substantially alleviated.

Analyzing consumerization - Should enterprise business context determine session policy?

This paper analyzes the impact of the fast-growing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend in the corporate mobile market, which blurs lines between business and personal usage. To enable selective funding and resource optimization for BYOD, we propose that the enterprise determines its own service delivery policy, using an enterprise Business Context (eBC) Policy tool. The enterprise is best placed to ascertain session context and priorities from its internal context sources, kept only by the enterprise, to retain privacy. While NETWOK policies are controlled by network operators, the enterprise could and should determine the SESSION policies that are based on its business goals. The eBC policy can be further utilized for optimizing resource usage and influencing employee consumption. The enterprise goals need to be translated into standard policy rules and conveyed to the carriers via existing 3GPP standards, to fit in with existing networks. This is paper raises several new ideas which are further researched in follow-on papers.

Selecting Access Network for BYOD Enterprises with Business Context (eBC) and Enterprise-Centric ANDSF

enterprises that adopt BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) need to optimize network selection for refundable employees’ business usage. They can ‘force-on-net’ business sessions when employees are on-site and seek ‘best connection’ when employees are off-site, perhaps via hospitality partners that provide WiFi connectivity. For non-fundable, unproductive personal usage, service requests should be ‘forced-off-net’ and deferred back to the personal carriers. To achieve this, we propose that the Enterprise decides whether to accept or change the originating access network, having established the funding status via the eBC (enterprise Business Context) model. For each service request, the Enterprise evaluates QoE and Affordability vectors that are derived from prioritized STANDS and CART factors respectively and the results are used to select the optimal access network. An enterprise Access Discovery and Selection Function (eANDSF) is proposed to enable recommending preferred corporate hospitality partners to employees, instead of the carrier’s list.

Cross-domain discovery of communication peers: Identity Mapping and Discovery Services (IMaDS)

The upcoming WebRTC-based browser-to-browser communication services present new challenges for user discovery in peer-to-peer mode. Even more so, if we wish to enable different web communication services to interact. This paper presents Identity Mapping and Discovery Service (IMaDS), a global, scalable, service independent discovery service that enables users of web-based peer-to-peer applications to discover other users whom to communicate with. It also provides reachability and presence information. For that, user identities need to be mapped to any compatible service identity as well as to a globally unique, service-independent identity. This mapping and discovery process is suitable for multiple identifier formats and personal identifying properties, but it supports user-determined privacy options. IMaDS operates across different service domains dynamically, using context information. Users and devices have profiles containing context and other specific information that can be discovered by a search engine. The search results reveal the users allocated globally unique identifier (GUID), which is then resolved to a list of the users service domains identities, using a DHT-based directory service. Service-specific directories allow tracking of active endpoints, where users are currently logged on and can be contacted.

Cross-domain identity and discovery framework for web calling services

Cross-domain identity management remains a major challenge for potential WebRTC adopters. In order to provide a global web-based communication system, it is critical to locate the destination called party, map the identity to the user device, and provide mutual authentication for both caller and called party. In this paper, we present a novel identity management and user discovery framework that enables callers to search and locate users across service domains. The identity management is decoupled from the used calling service, allowing users to manage their profiles and credentials independently of the applications. The framework is designed to preserve privacy and exploit web technology to gain trust and contact list management.

Independently Verifiable Identity Scheme (IVIS)

Web identity schemes suffer from weak authentication and low trust, while company-granted identities are trusted but inflexible. Users either have trusted identities which they cannot control, or they control identities which are entirely untrusted. To resolve this dichotomy, the Independently Verifiable Identity Scheme (IVIS) is proposed, which draws trust for verification of user-provided personal data via evidence held by reputable organizations, acting as verifiers. The IVIS concept empowers users to structure their own identity with verifiable claimed attributes, and choose the parties who are best qualified to confirm their veracity. A case study of ‘Verifiable CV’ demonstrates verifying distributed work records by previous employers.