Real-Time Telecom Management Integrated With AM/FM

For a service provider to remain competitive, its Network Management should form a framework that supports all existing and future Service Management Systems as well as the full range of Operations Support Systems, (such as billing, inventory, customer contact, trouble management, etc). It is imperative that these systems readily accommodate the introduction of new technologies and services. Lengthy delays to market usually result in opportunities and perhaps customers being lost.

The goal of effective Network Management is to respond to what all, and particularly the most profitable, customers want:

High reliability which translates into: message completions, low packet errors, long time between failures with short time to repair, etc. This can be accomplished through full use of network diversity, self-healing rings, sophisticated traffic engineering, dynamic real-time traffic management, for example.
New service offerings available early, particularly higher capacities.
Flexibility with the ability to have as much capacity as needed, when it is needed and for the time it is needed.
Service on demand. This involves automatic end-to-end provisioning.
Competitive pricing. This requires that the provider is able to maximize its utilization of the network resources.
Access to real-time quality indicators.
Sophisticated customers are also demanding Customer Network Management (CNM)
-- the ability to view and alter their segments of a provider’s network. This allows the customer to alter their data network configurations without delay and to manage faults dynamically,

These systems are clearly the backbone of successful telecommunications providers.

Why is IT The Center of The Universe?
For a number of years, AM/FM was promoted as the key data warehouse to support all of a telco’s network oriented activities. Whether or not that was once true, it is now clear that Network Management now occupies the center of this universe.