Applying Distributed Systems Principles And Technology To Downsize And Improve Common Carrier Operational Infrastructures
Paul Prozeller · 2005
Common carriers have large operational infrastructures which have evolved over the last 20 years and have become crucial to the successful functioning of their networks. However, at this point, it is vital that these aging infrastructures be upgraded in order to meet the competitive demand for faster service deployment, as well as end-customer demands for faster provisioning, higher reliability, timely billing, and control of their networks. Each infrastructure is composed of several hundred Operations Systems (OSs). The time is right to upgrade and/or replace the existing OSs because of business drivers and new solutions, which are enabled by emerging distributed systems principles, technology and standards. The downsizing approach, which is radically restructuring MIS organizations, can bring major benefits when it is applied to operational infrastructures. Downsizing is the use of distributed systems technology (PCs, work stations, high-speed networks, open systems and clienvserver cooperative computing) to replace the mainframe/minicomputer-based imbedded OSs. This has the potential to radically downsize OS infrastructures and greatly improve their performance, at a much reduced on-going cost. In order to migrate to a better solution, there must first be a target architecture. This talk describes a target architecture which is based on distributed systems. It discusses: the operational infrastructure problem, a target implementation architectural solution, the components and benefits of such a solution, and implementation issues.