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In recent years, Equinox has developed strong ties with Metaswitch, becoming an official partner and attending several of their events. In fact, carriers with Metaswitch devices on their networks constitute the fastest growing segment of Equinox’s customer base. With more than 30 of them, they are playing an active role in driving the addition of new features and functions in both Protector (our fraud management system) and TeleLink (our usage analytics platform).
We now have five specific modules that carriers can add to existing implementations, allowing them to take advantage of specific Metaswitch functionality.
In addition to processing the AMA records created by the Metaswitch, our solutions can also process CDRs created in the XML format. One of the unique benefits of the Metaswitch is that it supports creation of call records in BOTH formats, and each can be configured with a unique file rotation schedule. That means carriers can create a daily AMA file for billing and XML files every five minutes for usage analytics and fraud management.
Equinox has supported automated disabling on a variety of switches over the years, but we have honed this process for the Metaswitch. When fraudulent traffic is identified, Protector's Metaswitch-specific logic can be configured to automatically block at the Line, PBX, or Business Group level barring usage by type (i.e. International, National, Mobile, Premium, etc.).
“Bursted Usage” is any number of simultaneous inbound and outbound calls that exceeds the contractually agreed upon maximum for a given billing number or line. For example, when a business customer whose plan allows for a maximum of 5 simultaneous calls has 6 or more calls up at any one time.
The Metaswitch identifies when this happens and reports it via a unique AMA structure code and call type. TeleLink can extract the data from these unique Metaswitch records, aggregate the usage, and report on it. The solution can then identify the specific second with the highest burst rate for a given period (typically a month) for each line. If desired, it can also calculate the appropriate fee based on how far the customer exceed their limit.
TeleLink can create a mediation file to be fed to billing and/or a Bursted Lines Report, by line number and customer showing maximum bursted calls, allotted concurrent call limit, and cost associated with any usage exceeding the allotted maximum number of calls for the defined period.
In TeleLink, accurate trunk group information is a valuable data set to correlate with usage. Some carriers keep this data in an external database, which can be used to feed updates to TeleLink. Other carriers, rely on the trunk group database within the Metaswitch to store this information. For those customers, TeleLink can now be configured to read from the Shadow Database on the Metaswitch directly to access trunk group information that enhances TeleLink reporting.
In addition to processing Metaswitch AMA and XML usage records, TeleLink can also be configured to collect Metastats or operational measurement (OM) data. These statistical data sets include counts of activity on the switch for a given period. TeleLink retrieves, extracts, and stores this data, making it available for as long as desired, facilitating custom reporting over historical time period.
In addition to these unique modules, we can use the Metaswitch records to generate the FCC required data for Rural Call Completion report. Another option that is unique to the Metaswitch is the ability to match an inbound CDR to the associated routing attempts for a single call within one Metaswitch, using the correlation ID.
We appreciate the partnership we have formed with Metaswitch and enjoy serving so many of their customers. If you have a Metaswitch and would like to deploy any of these options, please let us know. If you don’t have a Metaswitch, but would like to have similar functionality on your existing platform, let’s talk. With more than 30 years of experience enhancing our solutions based on customer’s needs, we are always looking for ways to better serve you.
David West is Executive Vice President of Equinox Information Systems. David oversees the company’s sales and marketing team, develops the company’s long-term strategic plan, and works directly with the company’s hundreds of customers across the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. When he is not helping Equinox achieve record growth, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing basketball, and serving his community through his efforts at Salvation Army of Middle Tennessee and St. Bartholomew's Church. To learn more about Equinox, its products, and the people who power them, visit www.equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.
