A common concern in service provider networks is poor integration
between the network elements and OSS systems. A typical service
provider network comprises multi-vendor, multi-technology network
elements, OSSs, EMS/NMS systems, and other management applications.
Service providers need a number of disparate adapters to integrate
network elements and element managers with their OSS systems. This
is hard to manage due to proprietary implementations, limited use
of standards, conformance issues, etc. It is common for a single
network element vendor to supply multiple EMS platforms to support
different product lines. Some large equipment vendors have upwards
of 50 EMS systems.
Integration of network elements and element managers into a carrier
OSS infrastructure can be a difficult and expensive ordeal. The
required ability to dynamically adapt to new services is another
challenge. Good management mediation solutions are necessary to
address this challenge. Mediation hides the complexity of the different
interfaces from NEs and association EMS/NMS systems and lowers the
overall cost of the solution.
WebNMS's Universal Mediation Solution provides a common XML
messaging framework for simplifying the integration of network elements
and element managers with OSS systems. With Universal Mediation,
the number of interfaces and complexity of the overall solution
is significantly reduced. With a choice of interfaces to OSS systems,
and a flexible but common architecture for easily integrating network
elements, service providers can reduce the integration and ongoing
management costs of their OSS infrastructure.
