Aggregating multiple functions into a single platform

A method comprising:

• in a mobile communications network, receiving an information packet from a mobile communications device at an input to a workflow server residing in a mobile communications network, the workflow server being accessible by a plurality of mobile subscribers and having a network processor;
• and
• employing the network processor of the workflow server executing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to perform the following functions:
• performing a deep packet inspection on the received information packet to determine a packet type matching the received information packet
• accessing a workflow module comprising rules for processing different types of information packets;
• subsequent to performing the deep packet inspection, determining which one of selectable communication function modules is required to process the received information packet based on the packet type matching the information packet and using the rules of the workflow module;
• and
• processing the received information packet using at least one of the required selectable communication function modules.

A mobile communications network workflow server for wireless mobile communication comprising:

• a mobile communications network workflow server interface receiving information packets in the mobile communications network from a first network entity, the workflow server interface being accessible by a plurality of mobile subscribers;
• and
• a computing platform residing in the mobile communications network workflow server processing the received packets, the computing platform comprising:
• a workflow module;
• a deep packet inspection module for inspecting the received packets and providing information about the packets to the workflow module;
• and
• selectable communication function modules, the workflow module coordinating processing of the received packets using selected ones of the selectable communication function modules, the selection of the selectable communication function modules being based on the information about the packets provided by the deep packet inspection module, the network interface further transmitting processed information packets to a second network entity.

A system comprising:

• a mobile communications network workflow server for establishing communication between a first network entity and a second network entity, the mobile communications network workflow server being accessible by a plurality of mobile subscribers, the workflow server comprising:
• a network interface receiving information packets from a first network entity;
• at least one network processor;
• and
• at least one computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one network processor of the mobile communications network workflow server, implement components comprising:
• a workflow module comprising rules for processing different types of information packets;
• a deep packet inspection module for inspecting the received packets and providing information about the packets to the workflow module;
• and
• selectable communication function modules comprising:
• a content filtering module;
• a HTTP proxy module;
• a video cache module;
• a video transcoding module;
• an analytics module;
• a firewall module;
• a charging module;
• a policy enforcement module;
• a traffic steering module;
• and
• a latency service module;
• the workflow module selecting at least one selectable communication function module for processing a corresponding packet based on the information about the packet provided by the deep packet inspection module, the workflow module coordinating processing of the received packets using the corresponding selected ones of the selectable communication function modules and the network interface further transmitting processed information packets to a second network entity, thereby establishing communication between the first and second network entities.