Network Equipment Provider

Prepaid Calling Services

Company
Network Equipment Provider A, a multi-billion dollar manufacturer and Solid Data customer, is a market leader in global Internet and communications for service providers and enterprises, offering wireless, long haul, metro and enterprise networks. Among its ready-to-launch service offerings is Prepaid (Wireless) Calling.

Application
A transaction-intensive application, Prepaid Calling requires service providers to recharge accounts, adjust account balance in-call, check and notify subscribers of their account balances, apply different tariff plans and support seamless international roaming in real-time. It demands a highly-available, scalable, and manageable architecture, which the Mobile Value-Added Services Business Unit (MVAS BU) delivers with a cluster of up to five nodes, each consisting of duplex pairs of Hewlett-Packard K-Series Unix servers running an Informix database. A full, five-node configuration of the Prepaid Calling System can handle the calls/second and updates/second for a peak load of 400,000 subscribers

Primary Driver: Reduce Platform Cost/Subscriber
The MVAS BU measures its products' cost-effectiveness using a simple ratio of system acquisition cost-to-total active subscribers. Charged with achieving market-driven cost/subscriber values, the development team found that the platform's ability to process high-volume transactions constrained the calls/second the system could process.

Problem
I/O delays associated with processing the call transactions were causing a loss of server processor cycles. Eliminating the server's I/O wait, the development staff reasoned, would increase update rates and active subscriber capacity. They investigated Solid Data solid-state disks as a possible solution.

  Before
(Original System) 		After
(System with Solid-State Disks)
Configuration 2xHP K580 Servers (n+1 duplex)
HP-UX 10.2
2xHP SC-10 Disk Storage 		2xHP K580 Servers (n+1 duplex)
HP-UX 10.2
2 x HP SC-10 Disk Storage
2 x Solid Data 900 Class Solid-State Disks
  • 1 GB capacity each
  • Dual-port, High Voltage Differential, Ultra-Wide SCSI
Application Performance Prepaid Call processing at roughly 100 calls/second 400,000 active subscribers.
  • Over 2X increase in calls/second
  • 750,000 active subscribers
Investment   + 7% of single node cost

Solution: Solid Data Solid-State Disks
A mirrored pair of Solid Data Model 900 Class Solid-State Disks with 1 GB of memory installed on each K-Series server provided zero-latency random access for key database files. This improved I/O performance and helped capture additional processor capacity that had been previously lost to "I/O wait" conditions, all of which translated to more transactions.

Prepaid Calling Services Topology

Result
Because of these impressive performance gains and economic benefits, Network Equipment Provider A has integrated Solid Data solid-state disks into its MVAS Prepaid Call processing platform.

For additional information, visit Solid Data at www.soliddata.com/solutions/ or email Solid Data at telecom@soliddata.com

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