2/26/2004 -- At the 3GSM conference, held this week in Cannes, France, Cisco fleshed out its Mobile Exchange Framework, introducing several new products that it says are designed to support mobile Internet edge service control and increase IP network flexibility for mobile operators.

Cisco bills its Mobile Exchange Framework as a standards-based framework that integrates an operator’s cellular radio access network with its IP network.

Among other offerings, Cisco introduced a new Multiprocessor WAN Application Module (MWAM) for its Catalyst 6500 Series switches and 7600 Series Routers. Cisco says that the new MWAM module lets enterprise or service provider customers deploy, provision, and manage value-added services such as access control or service management at the network edge. Mobile equipment suppliers Lucent, Motorola and Siemens have integrated MWAM into their mobile data solution offerings, according to Cisco.

Elsewhere, Cisco introduced a Persistent Storage Device (PSD) designed to safeguard service provider billing data from losses associated with service interruption, failed connectivity with other billing connectors, or – in a worst-case scenario -- natural disaster. The PSD is packaged as a single module card for Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 Series switches and 7600 Series routers and provides local storage and controlled retrieval when connectivity to mediation servers is lost. When connectivity is restored, locally stored billing records are forwarded to mediation servers for processing.

In addition, Cisco unveiled a public wireless LAN offering that it plans to market to wired and wireless service providers alike. The networking giant says that its new public wireless LAN service – which is fully integrated with its Mobile Exchange network -- provides a comprehensive Extensible Authentication Protocol-Subscriber Identity Module (EAP-SIM) solution with gateway and security interfaces and an EAP-SIM supplicant supporting Microsoft’s Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

Finally, Cisco introduced new IOS features designed to support public wireless LAN access. Cisco says that IOS’ new IP security capability, for example, facilitates secure wireless access by preventing unauthorized users from intercepting the IP addresses of authorized users. Other new IOS features are Session Termination – which provides granular accounting data for improved billing and logging of user sessions – and Location-Aware Services, which enables the delivery of customized services for end users.

Also this week at 3GSM, Cisco notched a deal with 3 Italy, a prominent Italian provider of wireless voice and data services, to deploy its Mobile Exchange Framework to support advanced billing services for its customers.

Bena Roberts, an analyst of European wireless services with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., says that the Cisco Mobile Exchange framework gives 3 Italy “a strong billing concept that will allow consumers to be charged in accordance with the services that they view, rather than the amount of data that they transfer.” -Stephen Swoyer