Telco
Integration tasks in modern telecommunication network management system
The Misuse Detection System
in Comarch ESB technology
The Misuse Detection System Concept
The increasing complexity of telecommunication hard-
ware and services has resulted in a flood of volumes of
data for telecommunication operators to analyze. Net-
work and service management centers find it difficult
to quickly respond to network or customer-triggered
events that are buried within thousands of event re-
cords. The knowledge that lies behind apparently uncor-
related data streams is difficult to grasp and maintain
by humans. Advanced technology based on self-learn-
ing mechanisms could help in this case. The solution
would eliminate the need for expert knowledge and
rule-based approaches to the greatest possible extent
and could also be used as a tool for preventive network
management in the area of misuse detection. The main
benefits of the comprehensive reasoning and correla-
tion system for telecommunication network manage-
ment include:
• Reduction of time required for the detection of new
misuses
• Preventive network management based on predicted
misuses
• Fast reaction to abnormal situations through problem
solving procedures
• Limitation of network infrastructure over-dimension-
ing driven by a need for service ����������������������
quality assurance (an
effective use of the existing infrastructure).
The MDS project is centered on telecommunication net-
work management areas like performance and fault
management as well as fraud detection and subscrib-
er pattern analysis. The term “misuse” has a broad in-
terpretation and means any network or customer be-
havior that may be considered unusual and indicates
various abnormal situations such as network failure
or fraudulent activity. The task of interpreting the dis-
covered knowledge remains for those supervising the
AI based outputs.
Integration Aspects
The MDS system’s core functionality, its self-learning
detection, is performed by AI-based modules created
by the academic partners of the international consor-
tium engaged in the project. Different experiences, mul-
tiple technologies used and the various AI techniques
applied all contribute to the challenging task of integra-
tion. Requirements for cross-correlation of different data
sources (such as performance and fault data) reinforce
the need for effective architectural principles in the in-
tegration of the partners’ software modules.
Comarch, the project coordinator, also plays the role
of integrator in the MDS project. Comarch provides
a scalable and reliable environment for the plugging
in of the dedicated misuse detection modules. The so-
lution is based on the Comarch Enterprise Service Bus
(Comarch ESB) – a contribution to the main stream of
ESB implementations. Comarch’s solution utilizes well-
known and recognized ESB architectural concepts im-
plemented by middleware technologies to provide basic
services for complex systems through enterprise mes-
saging and event-driven mechanisms. Comarch ESB’s
main functional features include:
• Message transformations – allowing all Comarch ESB
enabled components to talk to each other through
Comarch ESB adapters
• Reliable message delivery – support for various
implementations of messaging backbones like
JBossMQ, IBMWebSphereMQ etc. with the defined
QoS (persistence, transactions, guaranteed delivery)
• Flexible messaging models – synchronous, asynchro-
nous, one-way, unicast/multicast
• Virtual services mechanism – separation of the integra-
tion logics from the functionality of the modules being
integrated (the virtual services dedicated only for
message processing are separated from a modules’
services)
 Telecommunications

FM – Fraud Management
PM – Performance Management
FM – Fault Management
BP – Business Processes GUI

COMARCH ESB
Virtual Service
Message Broker System
SOAP
Check
for Start learning process
Data

Create Return learning status

learning System
set Start monitoring
learning using & management
learning set

ESB plugin Large data handling ESB plugin ESB plugin ESB plugin ESB plugin ESB plugin
Heartbeat

Heartbeat

Heartbeat

Heartbeat

Heartbeat

Heartbeat
Bulk data
download & upload

Misuse
Usage Data Records FD/BP AI FM AI PM AI Corporate OSS Repository

• A mass data handling mechanism – decoupling trans-
port and transport control functions to increase the
effectiveness of large data transport
• Administration tools for the supervision of the integra-
tion mechanisms (logging, statistics etc.)
As detailed above, Comarch ESB integrates the AI-em-
powered modules developed with technologies rele-
vant to the partners’ experience (C++, JAVA, .Net environ-
ments). Additionally, the existing 3rd party OSS system
must be integrated to share data with the solution. The
following challenges have to be faced:
• Heterogeneity of operating systems
• Heterogeneity of module interfaces
• The enormous data volumes originating from a large
mobile operator’s network
• Data originating from various operator’s systems
– covering a wide area of an operator’s business
activities and of various characteristics and formats
• Deployment in an operator’s complex business environ-
ment that contains many legacy systems.
Comarch ESB is responsible for the translation of the orig-
inal commands from the native module interfaces to an
internally used and widely understood format. Each mod-
ule has its dedicated ESB plugin adapter that grants it ac-
cess to the communication bus. The solution also makes
use of a virtual service mechanism that allows for the cre-
ation of a kind of service processor and dispatcher. Ar-
chitecturally, the virtual service is consistent with stan-
dard ESB plugins dedicated for integrated systems. The
GUI component is integrated through the SOAP plugin
in the same way as the remaining modules. All interac-
tions are passed through the virtual service. The flow of
the information and the architecture of the integrated
solution are depicted in the figure above (without going
into such details as the invocations and responses pres-
ent in a real scenario for the sake of clarity).

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