1. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Standards: Technology Direction Dave Sidor Nortel (Northern Telecom) Chairman, ITU-T Study Group 4 Tel: +1 919 992 3628 Fax: +1 919 992 7892 Email: dave.sidor@nortel.com

2. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 The Future Direction of ITU-T TMN Standards The future of TMN in ITU-T will be heavily influenced by –deregulation and privatization of telecom markets –new telecom technologies and associated management needs –new computing and communication technologies in support of distributed management –activities in TMN-related forums and consortia To meet this challenge, SG 4 has adopted a two track approach –meet today’s needs with current technologies while preparing for tomorrow’s needs by accommodating emerging computing and communication technologies The greatest impact will be felt in –relationships with other organizations supporting TMN –TMN principles and architecture –TMN information models for service and network management –TMN protocols: additional choices –common methods for specifying TMN requirements and information modelling: the specification of information to be exchanged is the essence of TMN standards

3. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 Major Standards Organizations Impacting TMN SG 15 SG 7 SIF ECIC OBF North American Industry Forums and Consortia European T1M1 T1X1 T1S1 TC TMN SMG 6 International OMG NMF TINA-C ATMF EURESCOM SG 11 ISO/IEC SC 6 Japanese TTC IETF ITU-T SG 4 ITU-T SG 4 ACTS

4. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 ITU-T Evolution ITU-T recognizes the need to collaborate more closely with other dejure and defacto standards organizations and has created procedures to –communicate and exchange information with industry forums and consortia (Recommendation A.4) –reference specifications of other organizations in ITU-T Recommendations (Recommendation A.5) –communicate and exchange information with accredited standards organizations and to support mutual referencing / incorporating of specifications (Recommendation A.6; approval expected in September 1998) ITU-T recognizes the need for timely results and flexibility –Recommendation approval time from introduction to final SG decision is as low as 9 months –proposals identified to increase the role of private (non-gov’t) members in approval process; major decision point in October ITU-T recognizes the specification of TMN should be a collaboration among telecom and IT industry players –agreements to share or use specifications exist or are planned with NMF, ATM Forum, IETF, and OMG

5. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Principles and Architecture Objective: architectural support for multiple communication technologies Principles for a TMN (M.3010) version 2 approved in 1996 –describes functional, information, and physical architecture and much, much more Current work plan is to split M.3010 into –M.301x: basic principles, including architecture, independent of any communication technologies –M.301y: other considerations, including specific communication technologies Current focus –elimination of Qx interface –ubiquitous application of mediation to support model/protocol translations –distributed processing principles –information architecture, including protocol-neutral modelling

6. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Mediation Objective: to clarify and refocus role of mediation functionality Current TMN architecture (M.3010-1996) –MD mediates between NE and OS, ie, between Qx and Q3 –MD/MF functionality overlaps significantly with OS/OSF –MF responsible for information conversion, while protocol conversion treated separately Agreed changes –drop Qx interface and eliminate MF/MD functionality overlap with OSF/OS –broaden MD/MF to provide ubiquitous translation between information models and protocols anywhere in TMN Example of broadened MD definition –NMF’s Common Interconnect Gateway Platform

7. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Information Architecture-1 OSI Systems Management Architecture (X.701) is current basis for transaction-oriented applications All TMN protocol-dependent information models in progress today are being specified using GDMO (X.722)

8. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Information Architecture-2 Information architecture (M.301x) rewritten to –be paradigm-neutral and allow more than one management paradigm –replace GDMO’s Managed Object with Information Element –expand the variety of interaction models, including manager/agent, client/server, etc M.301x and M.301y scheduled for initial approval in March 1999 Open Distributed Management Architecture (X.703) based on Open Distributed Processing (X.900 series) principles may play a major role in the future –X.703 interpretation for OSI Systems Management was approved in October 1997 –X.703 CORBA interpretation approved in June 1998

9. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Technology Choices - 1 Objective: additional TMN technology choices to meet market needs SG4 agreed to include CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to support the X interface at the Service Management Layer –new Q.812 Addendum 1 to reference OMG’s CORBA GIOP and IIOP specifications and also CORBA IDL in the form of ODP IDL (X.920) –new Q.812 Addendum 3 to reference new EDI interactive agent protocol (Q.81ia) –each X interface application will identify the modelling/protocol paradigm to be supported with multiple paradigms per application allowed –use of CORBA for the Q3 interface at the SML to be studied Q.812 Addendum1 scheduled for final approval in March 1999 Q.812 Addendum 3 and Q.81ia scheduled for initial approval in October 1998

10. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Technology Choices - 2 Study of F interface protocols based on F interface requirements (M.3300) replaced by proposal to study the technology appropriate for each reference point in the TMN Logical Layered Architecture –Initial meeting set for October 1998 SG 4 initiatives for IP-based management made in June 1998 –in support of SG 13: integrated management of IP and telecom networks –In support of SG 16: support of multimedia (H.Media) management, including Voice over IP

11. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 ITU-T TMN Information Modelling Evolution In October 1996, when most ITU-T TMN information modelling (and protocol) activities for OS-NE and OS-OS interfaces were consolidated in SG 4, a mixed requirements and modelling culture resulted –for common and switching applications, Intelligent Network, and V5/VB5 switching access, traditional SG 4 techniques based on M.3020 are used –for service level, an extended SG 4 technique is used –for common transport network level, an ODP-based method (G.851.1) is used This variety triggered a SG 4 drive for common methods for requirements and modelling SG 4 was also given ITU-T responsibility for –OSI systems management (including GDMO/CMIP) and –Open Distributed Management Architecture (including related ODP-based specification language notations) As noted above, SG 4 is currently deciding how and when to introduce distributed processing technologies, such as CORBA, into TMN to complement the existing OSI-based technology

12. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Methods for Requirements and Modelling Objective: common working methods to be developed for specifying TMN requirements and protocol-neutral information models SG 4 agreement reached to produce a simplified, but more robust approach (M.3020): Requirements, Analysis, and Design –requirements need to be understandable to OAM experts and provide sufficient detail to drive modelling –model details must be traceable to requirement details –information must be defined independent of deployment technology –industrial strength graphical methods and tools should be used initial focus on OMG- approved UML notations including Use Case, Static Structure, Sequence, Collaboration, Activity, and Implementation Diagrams; State Charts; Object Constraint Language initial support for CMIP and CORBA environments Aim is industry convergence on methods –NMF and ATM Forum are moving in same direction

13. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 Summary ITU-T TMN standards are the globally accepted framework for telecommunications management The focus of TMN standards is on the communications of information across interfaces between TMN entities A significant set of TMN standards is available today in support of switching, signalling, ISDN, SDH, ATM/B-ISDN, and GSM management The future specification of TMN standards will –be a partnership among the ITU-T, regional/national bodies, and industry forums and consortia, such as NMF, ATMF, and OMG –include distributed processing concepts and technologies employed in the computer industry For more about the ITU-T, see its web site: www.itu.int/itu-t

14. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 Additional Information On TMN

15. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 TMN Relationship to Telecommunications Networks Switching System Switching System Switching System Transmission Systems OS Traffic Mgmt Transmission Systems OS Survelliance OS Provisioning Data Communications Network WS TMN Telecommunications Network TMN Interfaces WorkStation The focus of TMN standards is on the communication of management information

16. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 Elements of a TMN Interface Architectural definition of communicating TMN entities: roles and relationships Operation, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAM&P) requirements to be supported by communications Application information models (support objects) for support of OAM&P requirements Resource information models (resource objects) defining abstractions of telecommunications network resources to be managed Protocols to transport the application and resource information between TMN entities Managing System Managed System TMN Interface

17. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 ITU-T SG 4 Activities Working Party 1/4 - Network and system maintenance Working Party 2/4 - Performance and test equipment Working Party 3/4 - TMN common capabilities –Q.12/4: Methodology and quality assurance for TMN specifications (including creation of common working methods for specifying requirements and information models) –Q.13/4: TMN principles and architecture –Q.16/4: Requirements for the F interface –Q.17/4: Requirements for the X interface Working Party 4/4 - TMN resource and service capabilities –Q.14/4: OSI systems management and Open Distributed Management Architecture –Q.15/4: Requirements integration and service level information models –Q.18/4: Network level information models for common transport, SDH, and ATM Legend: –Q.xy/z - Identifier for Study Question for the 1997-2000 Study Period

18. DOT’98 Workshop Heidelberg, 1-2 September 1998 ITU-T SG 4 Activities (cont’d) Working Party 5/4 - TMN application and protocol capabilities –Q.7/4: Requirements and information models for ISDNs and B-ISDNs –Q.19/4: Communication protocols for F, Q3, and X interfaces –Q.20/4: Information models for core and switching applications –Q.21/4: Information models for specific switching resources, including Intelligent Network, V5/VB5 access, IMT 2000, and ATM NEs TMN Information Modelling Activities in other Study Groups –SG 7 (Q.5): Architecture, requirements, and information models for customer network and network-to-network management of public data networks –SG 11 (Q.2): Requirements and information models for signalling system no.7 management (OMAP) –SG 15 (Q.14): Network element level information models for transport (SDH, WDM)