Xcipio® Lawful Intercept Solution

SS8’s Xcipio has met the test of time, rising to meet the challenges of each new communications technology as it has emerged. Designed for real-time communication intercept, its’ portfolio of supported technologies has grown quickly to include VoIP, wireless data, WiFi, Wi-Max, broadband, satellite, IMS and FMC. With the experience of hundreds of deployments worldwide, from the largest nation-wide carriers to the smallest regional carriers, Xcipio has evolved into a robust Lawful Intercept (LI) platform serving the needs of carriers, governments and law enforcement agencies globally.

Lawful Intercept – Going Mainstream

Lawful Intercept (wiretapping) used to be a dark secret with law enforcement agents deploying specialized equipment into carrier networks on an ad-hoc basis. But over the last decade, with legislation such as CALEA in the U.S., RIPA in the UK, the Telecommunications Act in Australia and similar acts across every continent, carriers are now building LI compliance into their networks on a worldwide basis. In most cases, LI support in the network has now become a condition of license and is an operational requirement as important as the security of the network itself.

Examples of Global legislative acts:
•   Telecommunications Law 2003 – Austria
•   Telecommunications Interception Ordinance, 2002 – Germany
•   Communications Interception Law, 1999 – Japan
•   The Special Investigation Powers Act, 2000 – Netherlands
•   Protection of Communications Secrets Act 1993 – Republic of Korea
•   Regulation of Interception of Communications Act, 2002 – South Africa

Xcipio – Satisfying LI Compliance Requirements

As new legislative requirements are introduced, standards are created to satisfy them. SS8 helps carriers stay in compliance with these various legislative requirements and standards by both participating in the standards development process and rapidly updating Xcipio to include these new standards as they are adopted.

Lawful Intercept Standards:

•   J-STD-A – voice, DDE
•   J-STD-B – CDMA200 wireless data
•   TIA 1072 – Push-To-Talk over Cellular
•   T1.678 – wireline (DSL) VoIP, Push-to-talk
•   TIA 1066 – VoIP over CDMA
•   ETSI 102.232, 102.233, 102.234 – ISP data intercept (email, IP packets)
•   PSEPC 102.232 – Canadian specific
•   Packet Cable – VoIP for cable networks
•   CBIS – Broadband for cable networks
•   ATIS 1000013.2007 – broadband/ISP data
•   ETSI 33.107/108 – GPRS wireless data
•   ETSI 201.671 – TDM voice
•   ETSI 101.671 – VoIP

•  Designed to interoperate with multiple technologies simultaneously
•  Scales to easily meet additional intercept requirements.
•  Operates on commercial off the shelf equipment
•  Extensive list of global delivery standards
•  License based upgrades prevent need to swap out equipment
•  Years of experience in helping carriers meet regulatory compliance
•  Support for advanced VoIP call flows

Keeping pace with evolving technologies

While the pace of new legislative acts and accompanying standards has been brisk over the last decade, the pace of change for communication technologies has been explosive. To help carriers leverage these new technologies and gain an edge over their competitors, Xcipio is continually expanded to encompass these new technologies as carriers prepare to roll them out. This effort not only keeps carriers up to date with compliance obligations but has created a robust product that covers the full spectrum of communication technologies from basic wireline voice, introduced in the early 90’s, to today’s cutting edge Dual Mode Service that combines cellular and WiFi technologies.

Supported Technologies:
•   Wireline voice
•   Wireless voice (CDMA, GSM)
•   Wireless data
•   WAP, 2G, GPRS/UMTS
•   PTT, PoC
•   Cable – VoIP, Broadband
•   WiFi data
•   DSL – VoIP, Broadband
•   Satellite – Voice, Data
•   Broadband – Active, Passive
•   IMS
•   Dual Mode Service (cellular/WiFI)
•   FMC – Fixed Mobile Convergence
•   Wi-Max

Benefit from nucLIus™: Support for a multitude of vendors

The core technology behind the successful transition of Xcipio from voice only solutions, to solutions including wireless data, VoIP, broadband and beyond, is nucLIus. nucLIus was designed to accommodate the never ending combination of new legislation, technologies, equipment interfaces and delivery standards. Today Xcipio can support over 1,000 network interfaces simultaneously and boasts a large portfolio of supported network equipment manufacturers that includes:

•   AcmePacket SBC
•   Bridgewater AAA
•   BroadSoft BroadWorks
•   Cisco softswitches
–       BTS, PGW
•   Cisco SII
•   Convergence SBC
•   GenBand M6
•   HP HLR
•   Huawei MSC
•   Kodiak RTX
•   Lucent
–       SGSN, GGSN
–       CSCF, MRF
–       DMS
•   Motorola EMX
•   NexTone SBC
•   Nokia GSM MSC
•   Nortel
–       GSM MSC
–       SGSN, GGSN
–       MTX
–       DMS
–       CS2K
•   OpenWave MAG
•   PacketCable compliant devices
•   Redback Smartedge
•   Samsung Ubicell MSC
•   Siemens wireless switches
•   Starent PDSN, HA
•   Stratus E-Rev
•   Sylantro Synergy
•   UTStarcom PDSN

Xcipio in the LI Network

Xcipio sits at the heart of any LI solution. The generic LI model defines three high level functions: Access, Mediation and Collection. As the Mediation Function, Xcipio controls the initiation of all intercepts, the acquisition of target information and the delivery of all intercepted traffic to law enforcement. The Access Functions (AFs) represent the network IAPs (Intercept Access Points) and consist of either existing network elements or passive probes. AFs are provisioned, by Xcipio, with target identifiers and they pass intercepted traffic on to Xcipio. The Collection Functions (CFs) store and analyze the traffic, assisting law enforcement in their investigations.

Xcipio uses 2 sets of interfaces (INI and HI), to mediate information flow from the carrier to law enforcement. The INI (Internal Network Interfaces) are almost always proprietary and describe the exchange of information between the AFs and Xcipio while the HI (Handover Interfaces) are based on industry standards and describe how the information is delivered from Xcipio to the CF.