TABLE OF CONTENTS Signaling System 7 (SS7) has become one of the most important assets within any carrier s network. Already deemed important for interconnecting calls from one network to the next, SS7 also has become a network rich in user data.
SS7 is really a control protocol, used to provide instructions to the various elements within a telephony network. These instructions may be how to route a call through the network, what features a caller has subscribed to, or in the case of number portability, which carrier will be used to handle the call.
In order to provide this level of instruction, a great deal of information must be sent from one element to another. Everything from the caller s telephone number to his or her calling card number, as well as other pertinent data, is sent through the network to the various network elements involved in connecting the caller to his or her destination. If there were a means of trapping all this information and storing it for analysis (which, of course, there is), carriers would find a rich resource for identifying the users of their network.
The data can be used for determining new marketing campaigns, the success of new feature offerings, and much more. In fact, I often refer to these data as the three W s: who is using the network, when they are using the network, and why they are using the network. These data are crucial to the success of any business to ensure that it...
