Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC)

Tame your 4G signaling traffic with the BroadForward DSC. Serving as the ultimate routing, interworking, and security engine for core and edge signaling, it delivers advanced Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) and Diameter Edge Agent (DEA) capabilities-with integrated GSMA FS.19 firewall support-to effortlessly simplify network architecture, prevent signaling storms, and accelerate 4G-to-5G migration.

Deployment options:

Bare metal
Virtual machine
Container
Cloud

Features:

GUI config management
DRA/DEA support
Access to all AVPs
Full message control for mediation
Selective Ingress Throttling for controlled network outage recovery support
Firewall according to FS.19 (Optional)

Foundation

The BroadForward DSC in your Network

The BroadForward Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) provides a highly flexible centralized command layer for all Diameter‑based interactions across 4G/LTE, IMS, VoLTE, and Wi‑Fi cores. Once active in the network, it can unify DRA, DEA, and IWF functions on a single software engine, replacing scattered Diameter integrations with a fully managed signaling fabric. The DSC continuously governs message routing, maintains session binding integrity, hides core topology, performs AVP‑level mediation, and executes cross‑protocol translation – giving operators full control, visibility, and flexibility over how legacy and next‑generation core domains interoperate.

Years of BFX in production

0 +

Operators running BFX globally

GSMA GLOMO winner

0 x

Trusted by

Multi-tenancy

Taming 4G Core Complexity: Centralized Routing & Interworking

Runs on BroadForward’s BFX Unified Signaling Core (USC) platform, allowing operators to co-host 4G DSC/DRA/DEA alongside 5G SCP, SEPP, BSF, and SS7 STP-eliminating network silos, reducing integration points, and lowering total cost of ownership.

Features a 100% graphical interface (CLI is supported also) for configuring routing logic, AVP manipulation, and protocol mediation, empowering operators to adapt policies instantly without custom coding or expensive vendor CRs.

Includes native MAP-to-Diameter and Diameter-to-HTTP/2 interworking functions (IWF) to connect 4G core elements (HSS, PCRF, OCS) directly with legacy 2G/3G nodes and next-generation 5G Standalone cores.

Trusted by professionals

See for yourself why professionals choose BroadForward.

We’re proud to have been leveraging the BroadForward platform for quite a while. The solution has played an important role in enabling connectivity with operators and providers preparing for the 5G SA era. Its flexibility, reliability, and future-ready architecture make it a standout platform in the industry.

An elegant and innovative solution to a legacy problem of critical voice networks — fulfils an immediate market need

This not only saves money, but critically speeds time to market

An elegant and innovative solution to a legacy problem of critical voice networks — fulfils an immediate market need

This not only saves money, but critically speeds time to market

One of the few independent signaling experts successful in winning business from operators looking for a multi-technology signaling platform

BroadForward’s solutions have already strengthened our signaling capabilities, driving greater operational efficiency

One of the few independent signaling experts successful in winning business from operators looking for a multi-technology signaling platform

Specifications

Everything you need to evaluate, in one place

Supported Standards & Features

Complete 3GPP Diameter Application Support Fully compliant with 3GPP and GSMA standards for all core Diameter interfaces, including Gx, Gy, Gz, Rx, Ro, Rf, Sy, Sh, S6a, S6b, S6d, S9, S13, SWm, SWx, Cx, and Dx.
Comprehensive DRA & PCRF Binding Provides stateful/stateless load balancing, session-binding for VoLTE/VoWi-Fi policy control (PCRF/OCS selection), and Subscriber Lookup Function (SLF) routing.
GSMA FS.19 Diameter Firewall & DEA Protection (Optional) Implements GSMA Category 0, 1, 2, and 3 Diameter firewall filtering, network topology hiding, and edge screening across IPX and inter-PLMN borders.
AVP-Level Mediation & Normalization Enables deep packet inspection and dynamic manipulation of Attribute-Value Pairs (AVPs) to solve multi-vendor interoperability issues on the fly.
Overload Protection & SLA Enforcement Features adaptive ingress/egress throttling, traffic prioritization, and congestion control to safeguard core databases against 4G signaling storms.
Native 2G/3G–4G–5G Interworking (IWF) Standardized interworking capabilities converting Diameter directly to SS7 (MAP/CAP), RADIUS, HTTP/2 (5G SBI), REST, SOAP, and LDAP.

DSC Features

Converged Multi-Protocol Single Engine Built on the BFX USC platform, allowing operators to run DSC (DRA/DEA) alongside 5G SCP, SEPP, BSF, and STP on a common engine, significantly lowering TCO.
Script-Free GUI Signaling Orchestration Provides a 100% graphical environment to build custom routing rules, AVP transformations, and mediation workflows without writing code.
Native Multi-Generational Protocol Interworking Optional out-of-the-box translation between Diameter, SS7, HTTP/2, RADIUS, and REST, enabling seamless coexistence across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
Single-Capacity Cross-Protocol Licensing Uses a unified capacity license where traffic volume can freely shift between protocols (Diameter, SS7, HTTP/2) as LTE networks transition to 5G Standalone.
Ultra-Lightweight & Cloud-Agnostic Footprint Extremely low resource consumption designed for flexible deployment across bare metal, virtualized platforms (VMware, KVM), or Kubernetes containers.

Get more product information

Request the latest data sheet for the BroadForward DSC and share it with your team for a complete technical overview.

Full technical specifications and feature list
Deployment architecture and 4G/5G core integration overview

FAQ

We are happy to help you with any questions.

The BroadForward DRA/DEA supports 3 levels of ingress and egress limit control.
1. On system level limiting the total number of messages that can enter the system
2. On peer level, limiting the messages from a peer or towards a peer.
3. Optionally the BroadForward DRA/DEA can be equipped with the Selective Ingress Throttling function which allows network operators to limit the incoming number of messages based
on various conditions such as operation, applicationId, destination network, etc. This feature allows operators to limit one type of message while prevailing over the system resources for other types of messages such as ongoing network sessions.

Deployment

Freedom of Environment: Deploying Where it Makes Sense

You are never tied to a specific hardware vendor, appliance cycle, or hyperscaler. Wherever the BroadForward DSC was deployed first, the software can be redeployed using the same configuration on VMs, Containers or bare metal. Because the BroadForward DSC separates the underlying execution platform from its routing logic, AVP mediation tables, and security profiles, moving environments requires no re-engineering. All Diameter routing rules, PCRF binding logic, GSMA FS.19 firewall policies, and multi-generation interworking workflows built in the GUI can be exported as clean, platform-independent configuration profiles or declarative Kubernetes Helm charts.