Overview:
Network Management Software (NMS) and Operational Support Systems (OSS) systems have long been a key part of the success of any operator, service provider and enterprise network. As the years pass we see the vendors of such products investing more and more specialized manpower on their development so as to empower their solutions to potentially bare fruitful results. Unfortunately, there is a notion that this shifted their focus more on the software itself rather than the network that will be managed with it, leaving a gap between a potentially powerful solution and off-the-shelf lack of capability to provide instantly an accurate solution.
The products themselves have the power to help doing a great job but the way of realizing this goal is not obvious anymore. Moreover, NMS and OSS integrators' teams seem to be biased more towards the software itself rather than the details of the managed networks, like missing the whole picture and the customer's perspective at large.
Main Benefit:
A recommended and tested approach on architecting, deploying and implementing OSS and NMS solutions with emphasis on fault management, performance management and service management.
Value Added context:
End to end evaluation matrix for any OSS/NMS solution
Real life examples, like networks with CoS and various QoS offerings, Internet Service definition and relevant SLA, DoS attacks identification, services monitoring and alarming, IP managed SS7 network, SIP VoIP network.
OSS / NMS primer
OSS / NMS perspectives (industry, vendors and integrators, clients)
Audience
Operators and Services Providers: This report provides a method to architect an effective OSS solution either from scratch or by modifying and enhancing their current implementation. An evaluation matrix is also included to be used either as is or enriched by specific needs for assessing various offers that may be presented to them. Last, but not least, real life examples are given, examples that can be used as is to expand the functionality of their OSS/NMS installation.
Large Enterprises: More than quite often, they have a small service provider to run and they use the same products as operators to have the job done and face the same problems.
OSS/NMS Vendors and Integrators: This report providesan insight of how their clients think and a roadmap to provide better services and retain customers.
Network Vendors and Integrators: Their products are focused by OSS/NMS products and most, if not all, of them have OSS/NMS offerings, too.
Table of Contents:
1. Executive Summary. 3
2. Introduction to OSS and NMS. 5
3. NMS/OSS with regards to fault management, performance management and service management 7
i. Perspectives. 7
1. Industry perspective. 7
2. Buyer's perspective (operator, service provider, enterprise) 9
3. Vendor/Integrator's perspective and common off-the-shelf functionality. 14
4. Finding 1: Conflicting perspectives and expectations. 15
5. Every day sample problems (elegant, simple but too far away from off-the-shelf functionality) 16
i. QoS/CoS 1. 16
ii. QoS/CoS 2. 16
iii. Internet Service definition and relevant SLA.. 17
iv. DoS attacks identification. 17
v. Services monitoring and alarming (eg DNS, mail, AAA, etc) 18
vi. Future trends in fault management and performance management and their effect on service level management 18
6. Finding 2: A missing requirement 19
7. Recommended approach. 20
8. Testing the recommended approach. 22
I. IP managed SS7 network. 22
II. SIP VoIP network. 22
9. Conclusions (Summary and Recommendations) 23
10. Closing note. 23
11. ANNEX I-References. 24
12. ANNEX II-ABBREVIATIONS. 25
13. ANNEX III-List of figures. 26
14. ANNEX IV-List of Tables. 27
15. ANNEX V-About the author. 28
List of Figures
Fig. 1: Document Flow. 4
Fig. 2: TMN Architecture. 7
Fig. 3: Telecom Application Map-Highlighting the focus of this report 8
Fig. 4: Recommended Process 20
List of Tables
Table 1: Report's benefits to the reader. 3
Table 2: Clients' perspective-Sample efficiency evaluation. 10
Table 3: Clients' perspective-Sample technical evaluation. 11
Table 4: Clients' perspective-Sample integration evaluation. 11
Table 5: Clients' perspective-Sample financial evaluation. 12
Table 6: Clients' perspective-Sample supplier evaluation. 12
Table 7: Clients' perspective-Sample overall evaluation. 13
Table 8: performance management as source for fault management example 1. 16
Table 9: performance management as source for fault management example 2. 16
Table 10: Transit Internet Service OSS/NMS definition. 17
Table 11: Simple, cost effective, yet powerful, DoS attack identification. 17
Table 12: Services monitoring. 18
Table 13: Performance management data warehousing benefits. 18
