LS/ASAM – Living Systems^® Autonomic Service Access Management

LS/ASAM is a comprehensive middleware solution for operators. It enables them to effectively manage the connectivity of nomadic end hosts across heterogeneous access networks, while optimizing the way network performance and resource availability are managed.

Features and benefits of LS/ASAM

Enabling service convergence

Network convergence is becoming a reality through the pervasive use of IP and the diffusion of ubiquitous broadband access in combination with advanced wireless technologies. Operators aim to enable their end-users to access a growing mix of value-added services and applications that must be available at any time, from any location and using any available access technology.

This demands for a multi-access aware service delivery platform that is capable of offering seamless service convergence and enables a reliable, secure, easy-to-use and personalized service experience.

The LS/ASAM Suite allows operators to effectively deliver such next-generation converged services. The solution is able to dynamically combine end-user and service requirements with network-facing self-management functionalities and optimizes the way in which network performance and availability are managed.

An innovative solution 

The Living Systems® Autonomic Service Access Management (LS/ASAM) Suite is a comprehensive and innovative solution that enables effective delivery of next-generation converged services. It dynamically combines end user needs and service provisioning policies with network-facing self-management and control operations.

LS/ASAM automates key low-level processes on both the user’s and operator’s sides. For the former, it enables increased "personal intelligence" in the form of user context and behavior awareness. For the latter, LS/ASAM offers "network intelligence", that is network service, content and resource awareness, throughout the whole service delivery chain. The Suite thus enables a step-by-step approach for operators that wish to smoothly transition towards next-generation integrated service access management.

An autonomic approach

Because of the increasing dynamics and diversity of multi-technology networks, service management solutions are requested to become increasingly autonomic. The central concept of an autonomic approach is to shift the burden of many support and control tasks from users to the underlying solution to assist, facilitate and empower human decision making.

LS/ASAM is a middleware solution empowered with autonomic self-management capabilities, including:

• Self-configuration: policy-based configuration of the Suite’s components according to changes in their usage and working environment.
• Self-optimization: proactive monitoring and control of resource usage, performance, and end user experience to enforce optimal behavior.
• Self-healing: automatic faults discovery and correction, both on the end user devices and network elements.
• Self-protection: automatic detection of and protection from unauthorized system control changes.
  Control over LS/ASAM components is expressed through policies bound to user preferences and business goals. The system senses, analyzes, plans and executes changes in the environment to ensure that business goals can be effectively met.

Key features

A comprehensive set of processes transparently optimizes mobile data connectivity and service management across multiple network access technologies. Said processes can be triggered by the LS/ASAM Suite components. They include:

• Vertical handover & session continuity: Maintaining the same IP address for an entire session guarantees interruption-free service access across multiple technologies.
• Connection adaptation: Automatic selection of the preferred network adapter based on service requirements and network conditions enables improved reliability and Quality of Service (QoS).
• Secure communication: Tight integration with several third party VPN clients allows consistently secure connectivity.
• Congestion recovery: Real-time and proactive detection, analysis and relief of congestion reduce call dropping and increase service resilience and availability.
• Load-balancing: QoS-aware balancing of traffic load across WiFi and cellular networks improves resiliency to traffic peaks.
• Context-aware user support: Semantic service specification, policy-driven decision making and dynamic information processing enable cognitive customer assistance.
• Mobile computing middleware: The software is capable of running on resource-scarce devices and support asynchronous communication with intermittent network connections.

Main benefits

Ultimately, the LS/ASAM Suite will give operators greater flexibility, automation and control. Important benefits are generated for both operators and end users. These include:

• More effective resources utilization leading to enhancement of provisioned services, increased traffic capture and cost reduction.
• Improved customer experience through transparent and autonomic problem recovery and proactive service level monitoring and adaptation by the software solution.
• Tailored provisioning of services using user context, which also aids in the design of new services.
• Flexible introduction of specific policies to exert control over, for instance, differentiation of price policies or Service Level Agreements, SLAs.
• Simple rollout over existing infrastructure to protect and extend the lifetime of capital investments.
• Reduced complexity to simplify management of the entire path from the service platform to end user devices.

Real competitive value

LS/ASAM translates into competitive value for operators, now and for the long term, by allowing them to:

• Maximize the revenue (ARPU) from existing and new infrastructure, while reducing operating costs and improving ROI.
• Adopt an effective convergence strategy that takes better advantage of the unique benefits provided by each deployed access technology.
• Serve customers with constantly growing demands.