A network element management solution
Y. Gosselin · 2001
In the newly deregulated telecom industry, where fierce competition exists, investments in the network are, of course, usually justified by their associated ROI. Another aspect often overlooked is how to manage a telecommunication network and to achieve increased quality of service, lower expenses and a higher profit margin. This is possible, but usually requires investments on a long-term basis. To the engineering, provisioning, maintenance, power, and surveillance groups, having access to more data, in quantity and quality, is certainly one way of improving the management of day-to-day tasks, as well as long term planning. Many systems are capable, in different ways, to collect and store large amounts of data. Still, classifying, analyzing, filtering, and reporting are too often performed by human beings. These time-consuming tasks can be automated, freeing important resources to accomplish more productive missions. With the implementation of a high-performance network element management system, information may be extracted from a large data pool, easing the decision-making, avoiding obvious errors, reducing reaction time and redirecting data to the right people. This is now possible using better, automated and configurable data analysis tools, packaged within an improved, efficient and intuitive user interface. The system that will be discussed here has been implemented as a network element manager in at least 5 different networks. Using paradigms known as virtual concepts and element translators, this system, at its first version at the time of writing, will accommodate new functionalities in its second version. Our research indicates that much more powerful functions appear as actual or future requirements. Among these is the need to go a lot further into automated analyses and reports, necessitating the implementation of some sort of expert system that would facilitate and accelerate cooperation among groups in the telecommunication industry, such as network operators, maintenance subcontractors, energy systems suppliers, and even peripheral equipment manufacturers. This paper will present a technical overview of how improved peripheral equipment management in a telecom site network has been implemented, trying to attain both goals of increased reliability and lower operation costs. Finally, we will present our view of future trends: the increased integration and efficiency of network and component management.