Usage-based billing

[ravi <gadfly () exitleft org>]

Hello all,

read through the charter/guidelines and I believe (hopefully correctly!)
that my questions are not out of place. I am looking for advice on usage
based billing solutions. I am interested both in the data collector /
collection part and the billing part, and would ideally want separation
between these two parts (so that the collector could be used with
alternate billing systems, including in-house ones).

Any suggestions on NetFlow/SFlow use? Tools (apart from Cflowd and
flow-tools)? Commercial solutions? What are the general concerns with
using NetFlow for billing? I understand I am asking a question that is
very wide in scope, but would appreciate even generic pointers in response.

Also, Juniper provides a set of alternate Network Accounting Solutions
as their "response" to Flow-based accounting. Any pointers to comparison
of their solution with others? Experiences? Implementation documents?

Thank you,

        --ravi