Customer Network Management A Success Story Telecom Australia & Hewlett-Packard Abstract Telecom Australia is one of the early adopters of new technologies and standards in the area of network management, in particular Customer Network Management (CNM). With the foresight to combine the evolving trends in telecommunications with the emerging trends in computing technologies, Telecom Australia is able to offer their customers new, integrated and easy-to-use network management services to facilitate their interactions with Telecom Australia. In 1990, Telecom Australia announced a major initiative to develop a software environment, internally referred to as the Customer Network Management environment. Its aim is to support integrated management of the entire portfolio of Telecom Australia supplied services within the customer's network environment. CNM extends Telecom Australia's network management capabilities to the customers' premises and provides them with better and more efficient management & control over their subscribed telecom resources, including Virtual Private Networks (VPN). Telecom Australia's expertise in telecommunications combined with Hewlett-Packard's expertise in information technology and data communications have led to the successful development of a highly functional prototype CNM system. Internal operators who are using this new CNM system are excited about these new management capabilities and are already experiencing significant gains. The outcome of this venture is a standard CNM Application Development Platform to be offered by Hewlett-Packard worldwide. Telecom Australia is continuing the development of its CNM application which is expected to be launched soon. Background Information The range and type of telecommunication services offered to customers by telecommunications service providers (often refered to as PTTs, Telcos, public telecommunication carriers) worldwide is growing constantly and it was becoming more and more difficult to manage these services within Telecom Australia as well as within the customers' organizations. Like most telecommunications service providers, Telecom Australia was offering specific network management tools for specific telecommunication services. However, these tools were dedicated to particular Telecom network services. In addition to providing customers with better network management capabilities there was also a need to improve the interactions with Telecom in regard to business related activities. These included specific solutions like enhanced billing service, service assurance, personalized access line. Implications Although the product specific tools provide improved management of particular networks, the implications with such approaches are (for both Telecom Australia and its customers): * Dedicated systems and workstations are required for each service * Network managers have to adjust to different types of user interfaces and system functions for each service * Lack of integration of services and functions which are often interrelated and interdependent The New Approach to Customer Network Management (CNM) Telecom Australia has recognised the need for a new approach to CNM development and implementation. A major development initiative to build an integrated management system (value-added integrator) for its entire supplied services and extend them to their customers' premises was started. This is aimed at providing customers with better management and control of network services provided by Telecom Australia. The challenge was to create a management infrastructure which enables a seamless integration of the various, existing network management systems (NMS), operation support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS). This integration required extensive modelling work, using object oriented technology, and abstractions of the services and products and other entities. These resulted in submissions to CCITT, as recommendation for CNM services. The benefits of such an approach are numerous for both Telecom Australia and its customers. They include: * Common customer workstation for the management of all Telecom Australia supplied network services * An 'end-to-end' high-level view of the customers' entire networks and services, covering the customers' own network components as well as Telecom Australia supplied network services * Integrated services and functions that enable the network operator to manage the interdependencies of various Telecom network services * More efficient processes between Telecom and its customers including faster delivery of new services and fast problem resolution * A fully integrated industry standard software environment for management of telecom services and customers' own premises equipment * A consistent user interface for all management applications (graphical user interface) * Freedom of choice of hardware and network connections due to conformance with industry standards related to the telecommunications industry and information technology Vision and Foresight in Applying New Technology It takes vision, foresight and the right strategic choices to implement such a solution for CNM. The Customer Network Management Group within Telecom Australia provided the vision, foresight and leadership required to develop the concept, apply new technologies and standards and implement the CNM system. A highly functional prototype of this system is currently use internally within Telecom Australia on a trial basis, involving selected corporate customers. The launch date for its CNM solution has not been announced. HP believes that commercial launch is targeted in 1993. Telecom Australia's selection for its CNM implementation include: * Provision of high-level, abstract views of Telecom network services using object oriented (OO) technologies * An architectural model of the entire CNM environment * 'End-to-end' model of the customer's network * Alignment with the Distributed Management Environment (DME) promoted by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) * Support of industry networking standards (OSI, NMForum, CCITT) * Partnership with Hewlett-Packard as Information Technology Provider * Combination of telecommunications expertise with information technology expertise * Open systems platform (Unix system) * HP OpenView DM (Distributed Management) platform * HP's Singapore Networks Operation organization which developed a generic CNM platform by extending HP OpenView, upon which CNM applications can be built more effectively and efficiently The joint CNM development work of Telecom Australia and Hewlett-Packard has already generated a high level of interest in Europe and America. The approach adopted by these two organizations is clearly leading edge technology. Hewlett-Packard is currently commercializing the CNM development platform for worldwide distribution to telecommunications service providers, telecommunications equipment providers and their respective application software developers/systems integrators. The HP CNM products and services can help make your organization more competitive and productive. Please contact your local Hewlett-Packard sales office for more information. Hewlett-Packard Company SNO-4 12/92