Siemens Joins Fujitsu, Lucent, Nortel Networks and Tellabs, in Developing an Open Network Management Interface for Multi-Vendor Networks
Business/Technology Editors
BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--Siemens today announced its collaboration within the TeleManagement Forum (formerly the Network Management Forum) with Fujitsu, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks and Tellabs to develop a standard open software interface that will manage multi-vendor synchronous optical network (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transport networks.
As a major vendor with synchronous and DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) networks delivered to more than 90 countries, Siemens' involvement in the collaboration significantly enhances the global strategic position of this common software interface. The open common software interface will be supported in Siemens' TransXpress network management systems for transport networks.
The fast and cost-effective provisioning of services to an ever-expanding customer base has become increasingly important for today's network operators and service providers. The open software interface will enable network operators and service providers to manage multi-vendor networks from one central point, featuring key functionality such as end-to-end connection management and fault management.
Network operators and service providers will be able to choose "best-in-breed" transport network equipment and Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) systems from different vendors, using the same open software interface.
The five companies in the collaboration are focusing their joint efforts on the Element Management Layer (EML) to Network Management Layer (NML) interface using CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) as the basis for the open software interface. This is a practical approach that is consistent with the TMN framework. The use of CORBA is a valuable innovation that will simplify the task of developing NML clients to interoperate with vendor-provided EML systems.
A first specification of this interface for SONET networks, developed by Fujitsu, Lucent and Tellabs, has already been released. The initial prototype of this interface was shown at TeleManagement World, Oct. 13-16, 1998, in Dallas. The first open software interface specification for SONET / SDH networks is expected to be released soon.
Optical Networks, a division of Siemens Information and Communication Networks, designs and develops state-of-the-art optical transport systems for the North American market. Since its inception in October 1997, the Optical Networks Division has launched two innovative optical transport solutions. TransXpress ALine is a multi-service, local transport system that combines synchronous optical network (SONET) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technologies on a single platform. TransXpress Infinity is an ultra-high capacity, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) transport solution that delivers more data at faster speeds over greater distances than traditional systems.... |
