STACO - An accounting configuration architecture for multi-service mobile networks

Accounting is a key task in commercial networks. With the increasing number of IP-based services and mobility support, accounting needs to evolve towards an integrated, service-oriented accounting approach in a mobile environment. Therefore, this dissertation digest paper presents the Service-oriented Tailored Accounting Configuration (STACO) architecture that enables a service-oriented accounting configuration management in a mobile, multi-domain networking environment. Additionally, it presents the Diameter flow accounting application as an extension to the Diameter protocol in order to integrate IP flow accounting into any Diameter-based infrastructure and to support an efficient transfer of IP flow records.