Today a number industries and business verticals are realizing the power of cloud computing and NFV. PCRF is among the first Network Field Application that is being virtualized and cloud ready. Operators can do more activities around data services, while utilizing cloud based PCRF solutions.
With clearly visible advantages around better manageability and controls, cloud based PCRF is increasingly being adopted as service providers realize the big value in cloud based control-plane applications such as – PCRF and achieve greater level of hardware cost savings.
With completely virtualized PCRF working on the cloud, telecom operators can easily scale their PCRF to cater to the new age traffic, gain more control on new regions and hence increase their chances of having new monetization possibilities around data services.
As operators continue to streamline their operations in a highly competitive business landscape, they are more open to outsourcing PCRF in order to save money, as well as keep their core focus activities intact. This phenomenon is driving a lot of cloud service providers to drive ‘PCRF as a Service’ model for the operator community.
Challenges with current PCRF Solutions
- Legacy PCRF solutions are generally not that flexible to handle innovative data oriented plans, much needed in next generation data driven technologies such as LTE.
- Legacy PCRF solutions have limited or no integration with charging functions.
- And most important, expansion of such legacy PCRF solution is quite costly and makes a big dent on the CapEx for the operator.
- New PCRF deployment takes additional 4-6 weeks time and it takes big effort to integrate such solutions with existing ecosystem of the operator. It also needs to be attuned to the rack space, network hardware and storage.
- In order to drive a seamless integration of PCRF, a new team of experts is needed which also adds to the overall cost of the solution.
- Horizontal and Vertical Scaling
- Auto scaling
- Pay on a rental mode
