The new world of IP billing

摘要

In the good old days of analog telecommunications, voice was the only type of information transported. There was a static set of required usage details, called a Call Detail Record (CDR), and customer usage information was often collected and analyzed in batches. But the old rules of the circuit-switched network do not apply in the Internet protocol (IP) world. The Internet is far more complex, with unlimited types of applications and services. The usage details required to track activity on the Internet must therefore be much more dynamic. Additionally, the Internet operates in realtime, and customer usage information must be captured and analyzed in the same manner.