Towards an Active IP Accounting Infrastructure

Traditional IP accounting infrastructures cannot withstand the shock waves produced by voice over IP integration, increasingly large accounting data volumes, adaptive pricing schema that reflect resource utilization, and real-time requirements on accounting applications such as billing and traffic monitoring. To suit tomorrow’s networks, the Active IP Accounting Coprocessor Environment (AIACE) argues that the number of accounting tasks performed at the network nodes and at the accounting servers be fluid and not necessarily known a priori. The AIACE infrastructure introduces the notion of an active accounting co-processor coupled with the network node. This co-processor performs custom operations on accounting data exactly where the accounting data is being generated. For instance, the co-processor can efficiently manage pre-paid debit card semantics, reflect settlements among providers, apply fraud detectors, or enable real-time accounting data mining. The AIACE infrastructure dynamically pushes intelligence into network nodes and applies Active Networks themes to network management. Isolated from any problematic interference with end-to-end data paths, AIACE can set IP accounting free to exploit the power of open and active network nodes.