Even though mobile network technology is evolving fast, old generation networks such as 2G and 3G based on SS7 signaling, will continue to exist for many years to come. Therefore, Signaling Transfer Points (STP's) will remain vital components in operator networks and require vendor support for the foreseeable future.
Today, many operators are faced with STPs that are End-Of-Life or End-Of-Support, as multiple suppliers have decided to discontinue their legacy STPs. While this is unfortunate, it also offers the opportunity to reduce operational cost and move away from the legacy SS7 product, running on proprietary hardware. The STP offers consolidation across signaling solutions. These are often silo-based, meaning they each address different technologies and functions. In contrast, we provide signaling solutions that work across 2G/3G, 4G and 5G.
The Next Generation Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
The Next Generation STP is a comprehensive solution for intelligent routing of SS7 signaling traffic in 2G and 3G networks. It is part of our integrated solution portfolio for converged, multi-protocol signaling across 2G/3G, 4G and 5G (SS7, Diameter, HTTP, SIP and more). The STP offers a future-proof choice, with major benefits compared to traditional STP products.
Signaling Transfer Point Functions
- Full STP support according to international standards and variants, including mixed modes;
- Supporting low speed, high speed and SIGTRAN signaling links;
- Extensive feature set for screening, tracing, filtering, congestion control, throttling, anti-flooding and policing;
- Routing and screening capabilities based on one or multiple layers (e.g. SCCP, TCAP, MAP, INAP, etc.);
- On-board (optional) support for:
- SMS proxy function for First Delivery Attempt (FDA) messaging, home routing, USSD gateway, Black/White lists and more
- SMS Firewall, including content scanning and filtering
- Selective signaling message duplication function
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Equipment Information Register (EIR)
- DRA/DEA for Diameter signaling support and SS7-Diameter interworking
- HTTP Proxy functionality for service orchestration and control in the 5G NG Core
- Distributed front-end / back-end architecture for optimized routing, resource allocation and scalability;
- Robust, carrier grade solution, highly scalable, high available, geo-redundant;
- GUI based services orchestration and system management, configurable service logic, no need for scripting or development.
Hardware-agnostic solution, supporting NFV
The STP runs on any off-the-shelf hardware or in a virtualized environment. It is a 100% software based solution, supporting virtualization and cloud deployment (VMWare, KVM, OpenStack etc.). The STP does not rely on specialist hardware or proprietary operating systems. By offering the ability to deploy the STP on a common platform, supports operators and vendors in migrating from proprietary based appliance systems to a standard hardware and cloud based infrastructure.
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