If one looks closely at the business operation mode of IP telecom networks, he or she will notice that the network management (NM) of IP bearer networks is rapidly developing towards distribution, standardization, intelligentization, integration and individualization.

Driving Forces behind NM Development

If we look back at the development process of the IP bearer network, we can readily conclude that, in addition to traditional NM requirements, network multi-services, new operation modes, and continuously optimizing NM standards and technologies, are indubitably the three key driving forces inducing NM developments in IP bearer networks.

The first driving force derives from requirements and demands for multiple services and new technologies in networks. In the IP network architecture, an IP bearer network is the basic network that guarantees normal network operations and influences investments; therefore, its stability, service provision capacity and service guarantee capability are of vital importance. The NMS of the IP bearer network not only implements the basic network equipment management functions, but also implements LSP planning and deployment in the MPLS network. It enables end-to-end management on the MPLS VPN and the QoS, and also offers efficient monitoring, troubleshooting and information statistics functions, hence, ensuring a healthy operation of the network.

The second driving force derives from requirements for new operation modes. The transformation of the telecom industry has stimulated carriers to adopt new operation modes. For instance, carriers, represented by French Telecom, have realized that they need to "transform themselves into becoming integrated service carriers with new profit modes". In order to provide integrated services, a carrier can utilize the IP bearer network NMS in order to retrieve pertinent information about users, applications, services and networks. Based on a deep understanding about services, the carrier can then release related products or charging modes at the opportune time, hence overcoming the situation of finding oneself with "decreasing revenues, while at the same time experiencing an increase in the amount of subscribers".

The third driving force comes from continuously maturing NM standards and technologies. The TMN specifications, with M.3xxx serial recommendations by the ITU-T being representative of this, have remained the major standards in the NM field. The TOM/eTOM model by the TMF (TeleManagement Forum), since its release, is continuously being optimized each year, with the modules under the management structure becoming more and more mature. The SID (Shared Information/Database) has provided a unified information model in conjunction with the NMS, OSS/BSS and CRM. Henceforward, it will be able to provide unified interworking channels for NMSs of different levels, via MTOSI and MTNM interfaces and via system integration. The model also enables end-to-end network management and service management. Many other technologies, for example, PBNM (Policy-Based Network Management), OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing), data warehouse, and data mining, also offer ideal tools for improving intelligentization and large-scale data management capabilities for the NMS.

The Evolutionary Trend towards...

Based on service-driven forces and the developments of NM technologies, the NMS of IP bearer networks has been developing toward becoming a multi-management-layer integrated solution, which focuses on network management, service management and transaction management. Intelligentization of network elements (NEs) have also improved to a considerable degree in the system.

Traditional NM functions will be further optimized

Traditional NM functions refer to network configuration management, performance management, fault management, billing management and security management. The bandwidth in IP networks has exponentially increased, however, the discrimination between services and the network has grown weaker, so that the related management functions must be employed to ensure the processing of a larger quantity of information and more complicated service activities.

Higher requirements have been placed on network operation analysis capabilities, due to the recent development of new technologies and packet services, as well as the mass addition of data. The existing business intelligent system, which is based on the data warehouse, is expected to play a more important role in network management in the near future.

As data services are quickly becoming major services in next-generation networks, the billing management module must offer and optimize the data service billing function; or alternatively, it should be able to provide complete northward interfaces to support the construction of a data service billing system.

Distributed deployment and processing

As the network scale continues to expand, this will increase the need for a centralized NMS, which will enable a rapid increase of system processing loads. From the viewpoint of load balancing and network robustness, distributed processing is undoubtedly the development trend for future NMSs. It also meets network requirements for flexibility.

The distributed feature is the first thing to be seen in system deployment. The collection processing, application service, and database equipment, can all adopt the parallel processing mode, or the load sharing mode. In addition, the distributed feature can also be found in services. Hence, the distributed deployment of application functions can facilitate centralized management.

【A Typical Application】Huawei recently constructed China Netcom's NGN telecom bearer network, which covers 7 large areas, comprising 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Several hundred of NE5000E/80E/40E routers were adopted for this project, which help to collect and process performance data in a distributed way. As a result, this has greatly eased burdens on servers and enabled fine system flexibility.

Developing towards intelligentization and automation

The intelligentization of NM has basically two aspects. The first is the intelligent information interworking between network equipment (routers); and the second, is the intelligent information interworking between the network equipment and the network administrator. Automation essentially means that multifarious operation and maintenance tasks are automatically executed by the NMS.

NM automation can help zero-touch network operation and maintenance, especially in terms of service distribution, to become a realization. It can also greatly reduce operation and maintenance costs. For example, via Huawei's NSM service distribution system, LSP, VPN and QoS services, can be distributed by batch and automatically deployed from end-to-end. The system is also able to automatically implement network service and connectivity auditing and quickly respond to service requests.

For IP bearer networks, the OAM represents an important carrier-class service quality guarantee system. Network equipment can use the OAM to implement a link fault switchover, and via the OAM, network equipment can also cooperate with the NMS to quickly diagnose faults, monitor network topology changes and performance indexes. Hence, it is more than adequately able to provide end-to-end network-level self-healing capabilities.

Management becomes integrated and individualized

Collectively speaking, the applications of NM software by major carriers are in a quite messy state. There is special server NM software, equipment management systems by network equipment vendors, and application management software. With multiple NMSs coexisting in the same network, network management is swimming against the current, in terms of automation and simplification. Moreover, this type of situation can affect system performance. As a result, this has led to a requirement of integrated management for NM software. Moreover, changes in regards to services and network deployment have also created a need or requirement for individualized management.

Integrated management refers to management in orientation to users, services, network equipment, and application systems. With the increase in the scale of the enterprise Intranet, more and more basic systems and application systems are being adopted by the network. These systems are always found in distributed networks, where there is centralized management. In order to better understand network changes and make full use of network resources, an enterprise needs to strengthen its integrated management.

Individualized management refers to the diversity of management modes, which also includes such aspects as: flexible interface customization, flexible module selection, as well as diversified monitoring and management objects. It also works in conjunction with each user's profession, usage habits, and management modes.

In-depth data collection and analysis

Data collection and analysis tools, as represented by Netstream and DPI, help to facilitate carriers to have a deeper understanding of network operations. By using network data analysis systems such as, D2610, carriers can compile statistics in relation to network traffic, flow directions and application layer service operations, which provide the basis for network resource planning and usage, as well as helping to explore network values.

A notable difference between intensive and extensive operations is that intensive operations require each carrier to deeply understand customer and service details. In this way, the carrier can explore information with smaller granules at deeper levels, as well as develop new operation ideas and profit modes, hence occupying an advantageous position in the telecom value chain. Such achievements by the carrier are an important sign for in-depth exploration of NM values.

Platform and component design structure of the system

The maturity of NM standards and the unification of service models and system architecture models provide design references for the platform and component design of NMSs. With this background in mind, Huawei released its IP bearer network NMS, which is based on the unified platform iMap.

The platform and component design structure can facilitate a smooth evolution and high expandability of the system. This type of platform and component and design structure is advantageous in two very important ways. First, in terms of a new service requirement or function requirement, this type of design mode does not require program modification, thus, it can be quickly enabled, by configuring related rules and parameters; and second, this type of design mode can ensure the full utilization of existing systems and components. Hence, this not only aids in reducing investments, but also helps to enable large-scale system constructions.

A unified NMS provides complete end-to-end network management capabilities and service management capabilities, as well as non-differential customer experiences. It also complies with the development trend towards network integration and represents the development direction of future NM.

Developing Together with IP Telecom Networks

Network management develops in sink with network changes. The most important value of having and utilizing a NMS is that it is able to help carriers reduce the OPEX and increase network values. As telecom networks continue to develop toward becoming IP networks, we believe that network management will play a more and more important role in IP bearer networks, and thus, become an integral part of carrier-class IP network constructions.