Features

    

HARDWARE SOLUTION SKYACCT is a hardware rack mountable box. The Operating System and the special hardware and software are pre-installed and pre-configured. Set the IP address, forward inbound traffic via the LAN and connect it to the DVB/MPE. These are the primary steps you need to perform to start using it. A console connection via RS232/modem or telnet/ssh is available for system administrators. Easy to use shell and intuitive commands help work fast and efficient. Software upgrades from the developers are as easy as walking. They can be done over the Internet using secured file transfer protocols. The hardware configuration consists of high quality brand name computer details, external backup interface, which guarantees the unbreakable processing, and operations.

REAL-TIME SELF-MONITORING Real-time self-monitoring notifies system administrators on any possible problems with system integrity. Notifications can be configured as email or SMS.

EFFECTIVE BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT SKYACCT is based on a fast and effective latest technology bandwidth management algorithms for traffic shaping.

BILLING All the billing is done inside the SKYACCT box thus eliminating the need of 3rd party billing programs and you will maintain fewer systems saving time and money.

ONLINE BILLING (real-time) Billing is always up to date with the server real-time billing on user connections. You can then enforce your access and billing policies.

TIME AND DATE RATES You can define time of day and day in week rates of $/MB and charge by use, offer discounts or charge premiums for busy or lazy times.

DEBT LIMIT User may be denied access if he reaches a certain debt limit. You can maximize profits by enable extra usage, and still in control for possible abuse.

CREDITING USAGE User may be credited with extra limits if configured for later payment. This may keep certain level of user happiness.

PER-USER CUSTOM ACCESS DEFINITIONS Despite the company’s price policy and access restrictions the managers are allowed to define their own per-user profiles with custom billing and access details. It is also possible for the user to select his own individual plan for service access and pay-for-use.

AUTOMATED INVOICING Invoices are automatically generated at the beginning or the end of a payment period. They might optionally be sent to the user via email and/or snail mail.

PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS Each payment is stored in a transaction database that allows the accountant manager to easily generate reports on user or group payment balance.

GROUP BILLING Many users may be gathered in a common group in order to pay with a single invoice. The corporation is able to control the usage and payments of its employees.

PRE-PAID SERVICES Creation of anonymous pre-paid services (i.e. cards) for future usage is done by automatically generation of series of secured serial numbers with pre-defined credit. The access may be limited to any quantity of download performed.

DYNAMIC OR STATIC Users may be either dynamic (with undefined IP address used by home users) or static (corporate users or leased lines). Dynamic users login via secure web page. A predefined idle timeout allows the system to disconnect automatically any dynamic user that has stopped downloading.

ADMINISTRATION WEB AND CONSOLE INTERFACE The administrators are given the opportunity to simply setup the first time booting of the SKYACCT box. By using a special console command line interface the IP address of the public part of the server must be configured in order for the box to be accessible through a network station with web browser. The “hard" setup of access policies and user maintenance is done by Web only.

END USER INTERFACE WEB SIGNUP New users can be allowed to register 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, after filling out a web page with forms via the Internet. After payment they are automatically ready to start using the services requested.

END USER WEB ACCESS Any user may access the web page concerning his own accounting. He is let to specify or remove additional services, review recent invoices and balance, query the database for session reports, change passwords, alter his profile.

ONLINE REPORTS AND STATISTICS As mentioned above both users and administrators are able to create online reports for system usage. Statistics and special analyzes are available.

BULK EMAIL The SKYACCT box will send emails with invoices, session reports, administration information, notifications and etc. to all the users at a specified time. It is also possible to send email to a specified group depending on some search criteria.

EVENT SCRIPTING Certain events may start external scripts for manual processing of data like database exports/imports. This option requires a special knowledge and is available upon request.

CUSTOM INTERFACES The design of custom user web interfaces is allowed by accessing a spare secure directory on the SKYACCT box via a web browser or ftp client. The option requires additional knowledge about creating and editing of web pages.

ADVANCED SECURITY The SKYACCT box is secured with the latest firewall and intrusion detection technologies. It will automatically report any warning concerning the database and system integrity.

LOGGING All system messages are stored inside the SKYACCT box. The system could be configured to export a network-shared directory. The files are automatically archived and compressed with a user-defined password or public key.

BATCH ADMINISTRATION Batch maintenance of the database is possible when setting equal properties to a large number of user records like changing access groups, prices etc.

ODBC COMPLIANT The public part of the internal database is accessible via ODBC to external report generators and database managers as MS Access, Magic or Crystal Reports.

IMPORT/EXPORT DATABASES Administrator is able to import/export custom parts of the database.

CONFIGURABLE SYSTEM AND DATA BACKUP One of the most important features is the data backup. External storage device is connected to the SCSI port on the back of the SKYACCT box.