Power Tools 1993 November - Disc 2/Power Tools Plus (Disc 2 of 2)(November 1993)(HP).iso/hotlines/tsbu/harmo/harmo7.txt

Text File | 1993-10-04 | 29KB | 851 lines

HP Customer Network Management

Concept Guide


Notice

The information contained in this document is subject to change
without notice.

Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to
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This document contains proprietary information which is
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Hewlett-Packard Company

@Copyright 1992
Hewlett-Packard Company
All rights reserved.

Hewlett-Packard Company
Singapore Networks Operation
1150 Depot Road
SINGAPORE 0410

April 1993

Abbreviations

API             Applications Programmatic Interface

BI              Basic Integrator

CNM             Customer Network Management

CMISE           Common Management Information Services Element

CPM             Customer Premises Equipment Management

CPS             Customer Premise Station

DCE             Distributed Computing Environment

DME             Distributed Management Environment

DRS             Data Relationship Store

GDMO            Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects

IT              Information Technology

LAN             Local Area Network

MDS             Meta Data Store

MIB             Management Information Base

MO              Managed Object

NE              Network Element

NEP             Network Equipment Provider

OO              Object Oriented

OSS             Operation Support System

OSF             Open Software Foundation

OSI             Open Systems Interconnect

PC              Personal Computer

SMFA            Specific Management Functional Areas

SMI             Structure of Management Information

TSP             Telecommunications Service Provider

TMN             Telecommunications Management Network

VAI             Value Added Integrator

W/S             Workstation



Preface

This document is the Concept Guide to the HP CNM Platform.

This document is for anyone needing to understand the concept
behind the HP CNM Platform.





Abstract

Corporate organizations are demanding better and more
sophisticated telecommunications network services from their
telecommunications service providers (commonly known as PTTs,
Public Carriers, Telcos, IXC, and RBOCs - In this document,
these will be referred to as TSPs). They want better control of
their company-wide resources depending on their current business
needs.

Customer Network Management (CNM) is seen as a means to provide
the answers. CNM extends the telecommunications network service
information to the customer's premise giving them the
flexibility to manage and access their subscribed services more
efficiently and effectively resulting in significant cost savings.
It enables corporate customers to bridge the management of private
and public networks by providing an end-to-end view of their
corporate-wide network.

This paper outlines the dilemma that many corporate
organizations face in the area of corporate-wide network
management, current trends in the telecommunications industry,
Customer Network Management (CNM) and Hewlett-Packard's
involvement and solutions in CNM.



Table of Contents

1.0     Introduction to CNM


     1.1     Telecom Customers Today                         5

     1.2     Telecom Customers Needs                         6

     1.3     Industry Trends                                 7

     1.4     TSP Challenges                                  8

     1.5     What is CNM?                                    9

     1.6     CNM Values                                      11

2.0          The CNM Solution


     2.1     CNM Solution Model                              11


     2.2     CNM Environment                                 12

3.0          HP CNM Products and Services

     3.1     HP OpenView HARMONi Platform                    14

     3.2     CNM Consulting Services                         15



1.0  Introduction to CNM

This is an introduction to the telecommunications environment
that corporate customers are finding themselves in today and
their increasing telecommunications needs for their business. It
also outlines some industry trends which will significantly
impact the competitiveness of the TSPs and telecommunications
equipment providers worldwide.

It also describes the concept of CNM which is starting to evolve
further and the potential value that CNM can offer to both,
corporate customers and telecommunications service providers.



1.1 Telecom Customers Today

Every business uses some forms of telecommunication services to
complement the day-to-day business activities. This is most true
in big corporations where telecommunications is often viewed as
the lifeblood of the business. Any failure or inefficiency of
these services could mean business losses amounting to a lot
money. Telecommunications is therefore considered as a strategic
weapon in running a business.

Typical examples of  telecommunication services offered to
customers by TSPs:

- Analogue Data Services (dialup or leased lines)

- Digital Data Services (leased lines)

- Public Packet Switched Network Services (X.25)

- ISDN Services

- Virtual Private Network (VPN) Services

- PABX/Centre Services

- Electronic Mail Services, Directory Services (X.400; X.500)

- Metropolitan Area Network Services (MAN; IEEE 802.6)

- EDI & Electronic Funds Transfer Services

The larger the company the more services they will subscribed.
Large corporations are spending tens of millions of dollars a
year for their telecommunication services using thousands of
different services in order to meet the needs of their
businesses in terms of voice, video and data communications.

It is a large task for these companies to manage all these
services. Depending on the changing needs of their businesses
the companies telecommunication managers and operators
continuously need to perform the following type of functions:

- monitor the proper functioning of the services

- order new services

- cancel unused services

- upgrade existing services (increase capacity, speed, quality)

- test services and applications

- troubleshoot and isolate faulty components/services

To be able to manage the variety of these often complex
services, highly skilled people are required.

They include:

- Telecommunications Managers (Voice/Video Communications)

- Data communications Manager

- Network Engineers

- Network Operators

Every service is managed in a different manner and therefore
continuously increases the demand for more and better skilled
people in telecommunications and data communications. This
burdens the companies more and more.

In recent years, large, reputable corporations have resorted to
"Outsourcing". They have realized that the burden of running and
managing their network was getting too much and wasn't in line
with their business and business objectives. Outsourcing enables
these companies to offload the responsibility of running and
managing a corporate-wide network to another organization (i.e.
TSP) and focus more on primary business objectives.

The telecommunication service providers themselves are having
more and more difficulty in managing their wide range of
telecommunication services effectively and efficiently.

1.2 Telecom Customers Needs

Telecommunication customers are demanding more timely, accurate
and intelligible telecommunication information and services to
help them run their business more effectively and efficiently.
They are also asking TSPs to deliver new value-added and enhanced
services or risk losing the business. Telecommunication
managers in these companies are in fact under tremendous
pressure to provide close-to-zero-defect communication services.
They are expected to keep the services up and running with
minimum or no disruption to the business. They must also be able
to project future requirements and plan the communications
infrastructure to support the ever-growing business
requirements. In addition, they are expected to control their
expenditure/costs, keep staffing to the minimum, minimise risks
and at the same time keep their internal customers satisfied.

Today's telecommunication customers face several major problems
ranging from insufficient status information of the subscribed
telecommunications services to the inability to provide complete
end-to-end network management across their entire corporate-wide
network, including the telecom services.

Corporate organizations would like to be able to have more
control over the subscribed telecommunication services. As an
example, they would like to be able to dynamically reconfigure
voice, data and video services according to the specific needs
of their business. These capabilities should be possible without
the need for highly skilled expertise within the corporate
organization and without on-site attendance.

The aim is to give the users some control of the
telecommunication network and services they use. The potential
for on-going cost savings and efficient utilisation of their
communication links and services are enormous.

It was singled out by Andersen Consulting#1, in a study of 250
corporate companies, that the four areas in which customers
typically interact with TSPs are:

- Service Provisioning

- Network Operations Management

- Billing

- Planning

The report also detailed the priority of what the customers want
to see implemented by TSPs. In summary, they want better and
more accessible information about the subscribed
telecommunications services, in particular the network
activities.

Typical customer requirements which would enhance their
capabilities and facilitate their interactions with the TSPs in
the four areas above are the ability to:

- access accurate traffic/usage information

- selectively control subscribed telecommunication services

- track subscribed telecommunication services inventory

- order or request for services on a "need to" basis- track
  orders/requests in regard to its timeliness and accuracy

- escalate service requests

- track service quality levels against service level agreement
  contracted - track troubles especially during critical outages
  or chronic periods

- receive early and relevant notifications

- check on the status of trouble-shooting activities

- issue trouble report

- access accurate billing information (current & history)

- include telecommunications cost within customer's chart of
  account- reconcile and approve the payments of telecommunication
  bills

- allocate telecommunication costs between internal users for
  charge-back purposes

- minimise on-going costs, once costs are monitored and
  controlled

- demonstrate how a particular configuration would be billed

- access to other TSPs' tariff information- integrate with
  internal communication systems information

In addition, the customers expect the following features of the
telecommunication services:

- user-friendly and easy-to-use menu-driven programs

- simple log-on procedures

- automatic help facilities

- able to download information to their PCs or computer systems
  for further analysis and reporting

- consistent user interface for all telecommunication services

- conformance to industry standards

1.3 Industry Trends

A number of telecom industry trends are gradually evolving and
influencing the directions of the TSPs and their customers'
needs. Some of the most noticeable trends are :

- de-regulation of the telecom industry

- advancement of technology such as Intelligent Networks

- emergence of standards such as OSF/DME, OSF/DCE and various
  CCITT recommendations

- more sophisticated and demanding customers

The trend towards a deregulated telecommunications industry and
increased international competition has opened up the window for
TSPs to become global players in the market place. This trend
makes it possible to implement the type of telecommunication
services that international corporate customers have been asking
for.

With the advancement of technology, the emergence of standards,
the increase in more sophisticated and demanding customers and
the move towards a de-regulated industry, most
telecommunications service providers  are challenged to become
more effective, efficient and customer-oriented.

The technologies, standards, methodologies and organizations
which contributed to make it feasible and viable for the
telecommunications service providers to develop and introduce
new customer value-added services such as CNM are:

- OSF/DME

- OSF/DCE

- Object Management Group (OMG) Consortium (OO methodology)

- CCITT Recommendation TMN (Telecommunications Management
  Network)

- CCITT Recommendation CNM (Customer Network Management)

- OSI Management Frame-work (Structured Management Functional
  Areas)

- NMForum (Network Management Forum) Consortium

- Integrated Network Management Architectures and Platforms
  (i.e. HP OpenView DM; IBM NetView; AT&T Accumaster)

Key structured management functional areas (SMFA) identified are:

- Alarm and Fault Management

- Configuration Management

- Performance Management

- Accounting Management

- Security Management

1.4 TSP Challenges

The challenge for the TSPs to meet their customers' needs of
improved and new services is using a phased approach by which a
smooth transition can be achieved. The key areas of integration
required in these phases are:

*  Operation Systems Integration

   The Operation Systems Integration deals with the accessibility
   of telecommunications service information to the customer. This
   can be achieved through a formal integration process. Often, the
   OS are dispersed throughout the organization and are being
   controlled by different departments. Each OS is built, as
   networks are added to the telecommunications network and they
   may be supplied by the telecommunications equipment providers or
   developed by the TSPs themselves. Therefore, the integration
   process can be quite complex and time consuming.

*  Consistent and Standard Information Format

   A Consistent and Standard Information Format is required for the
   information integration. This is to take care of the diversity
   of the OS and to ease the development efforts.

*  Network Infrastructure Integration

   The Network Infrastructure Integration takes care of the timely
   delivery and availability of management information of
   telecommunication  services. A structured integrated
   telecommunications network has to be in place for this purpose.

The benefits for the TSPs will be an infrastructure which
enables them to rapidly develop and deploy new services and
applications which will be critical for them to remain
competitive in the long-term. It also provides them with the
flexibility to integrate new services much quicker.

Given the industry trends and the TSP customers' needs, TSPs
must address the following requirements in order to maintain
their competitiveness in the market : -

- increase quality of services (QOS)

- retain customers who would otherwise use alternative carriers
  (customer loyalty)

- achieve market dominance and control over other TSP's and
  private service providers

- increase revenue by providing more advanced services such as
  VPN (Virtual Private Networks) service

Another important consideration for telecommunications service
providers is the fact that CNM services are not only very
valuable for their customers but also for their own internal
management requirements. The variety of different services of
the network can no longer be managed effectively and efficiently
if they are managed individually. There is a need for a generic
service management strategy and architecture that defines the
service and network management solutions in a common fashion.
Often, the internal information technology groups of the TSPs
face similar challenges as corporate customers and therefore can
also easily become a major customer of the CNM services
themselves.

Today, many network management systems operate at the equipment
level (management of individual devices) or at the network level
(management of a network) only. However, the provisioning of CNM
services requires the coverage of the next higher levels which
are the service level (switched and/or leased services as well as
LANs, PCs, hosts etc.) and business level (service ordering, billing,
accounting, etc.).

Without these higher levels of service and business management,
the network becomes a barrier to effective network management by
the customers.

CCITT also defined recommendations for the 'Arrangements for
User Access to Management Information of Public Data Networks
Relating to User Interface (Draft Recommendation X.cnma/i/s;
SGVII; previously X.user). The Recommendation presents the
general principles and the framework for providing network users
with  on-line access to the network for the purpose of
management which differs from the conventional method used
between customers and the TSP where complaints are submitted by
telephone and bills are delivered by mail. This CCITT
recommendation specifies mechanisms for these new maintenance
and management requirements.

1.5 What is CNM?

CNM gives customers the flexibility to access and manage their
subscribed services more efficiently and effectively which
therefore results in significant cost savings.

TSPs around the globe are working towards the introduction of
CNM services for their corporate customers as a means of adding
more value and differentiating themselves from competitors.

The implementation of CNM is becoming more and more popular in
the telecommunications industry as it enables corporate
customers to bridge the management of private and public
networks by providing an end-to-end view of their corporate-wide
network.

At the customer premises, CNM can be further defined to include
the integration and management of the customers' internal
communication systems and its management information systems
(MIS) and executive information systems (EIS). The management of
customer premises equipment such as LANs, PCs, hosts etc. is
known as Customer Premises Equipment Management (CPM).

In the TSP environment, CNM is built on the Telecommunications
Management Network (TMN). TMN, as defined in the CCITT
Recommendation M30, provides the framework for the management of
the internal telecommunication networks and services of the
TSPs. CNM should therefore be viewed as a logical extension of
TMN to the customer. However, the presentation of the
telecommunications information provided to the customer is at a
much higher level. There is no need to extend all the detailed
TMN information to the customer and it also wouldn't make any
sense to do so. It provides a higher level of abstraction of the
network and the network services.

1.6 CNM Values

CNM provides significant values to both the TSPs' and their
customers' needs such as:

*  Substantial cost reductions as more customer service tasks are
   automated through CNM and can be initiated by the end-customers
   themselves :

   (a) reduction in cost of maintaining existing customer support
       systems and/or developing new ones

   (b) reduction in resources to entertain and track customer
       requests (eg. service provisioning, call-ins, queries,..etc)

   (c) reduction in time spent to entertain and track customer
       requests (with CNM, customer gets information or service almost
       instantaneously)

*  Considerable service quality improvements through on-line
   management of services by the customers themselves

*  Increase in revenue since CNM should be seen as a means to
   provide value-added services, such as inventory, accounting,
   provisioning, fault admin...etc ( retain existing customers and
   attract new customers who would otherwise use alternative TSPs
   or establish their own private networks )

*  Increase in customer loyalty due to increased satisfaction
   and dependency

*  Overall - create market dominance (competitive advantage)

Values of CNM to telecom customers

*  Optimize cost and increase efficiency through better
   management and utilization of telecom resources and costs.

*  Provide visibility and control of the subscribed telecom
   services that relate to the business

*  Effective management of their network including the telecom
   services given a true "end-to-end" picture

*  Overall - create competitive edge through effective and
   efficient management of the organization network and telecom
   service resources

The implementation of CNM is becoming more and more popular in
the telecommunications industry, as it addresses the needs of
TSP's and their customers and thus providing a win-win situation
for both parties.

2.0 The CNM Solution

2.1 CNM Solution Model

Hewlett-Packard has worked in partnership with AOTC (Telecom
Australia) for over two years towards the development of a open,
standards based CNM platform. A prototype CNM platform was
delivered at the end of 1991 and is now being enhanced and
developed into a product. Some of the development work has
resulted in submissions to CCITT .

Hewlett-Packard can contribute significantly to the
telecommunications industry with its open, state-of-the-art
computer system platforms and information systems architecture.
These platforms combined with the OSF/DME compliant HP OpenView
DM (Distributed Management) platform are the underlying structure
of the HP OpenView HARMONi platform developed for the telecom
industry.

HP OpenView HARMONi platform includes key components of the
industry-leading open network management platform, the HP
OpenView Distributed Management platform, and enhanced
management services and tools. This will enable developers to
quickly create value-added CNM applications and services which
allows them to achieve the important time-to-market success
factor.

HP OpenView HARMONi is therefore designed to provide major TSPs
and telecommunications equipment providers the ability to offer
their customers a strategic value-added service, Customer
Network Management.

HP OpenView HARMONi is a comprehensive platform enabling
corporate organizations and TSPs to:

*  link and integrate private and public network management
   solutions

*  integrate the management of the telecommunications network,
   the customer premise equipment, the customer internal network
   and the subscribed telecommunications service information

*  construct an integrated view of multiple networks by
   providing the linkages between equipment, network and service
   management

*  extend the information of subscribed telecommunication
   services into the customer premises thus allowing the customers
   to manage these services effectively, coherently and efficiently

*  use network management features to help grow the customer's
   business

2.2 CNM Environment

There are two types of CNM systems:

(i) Customer Premise Station (CPS) and

(ii) Value Added Integrator (VAI).

Customer Premise Station (CPS)

The Customer Premise Station (CPS) is the CNM system installed
at the customer's location. It is intended for the end users to
access and exchange CNM information, and integrate the
information provided by the TSP with that of the end user's
organization.

The recommended hardware configuration for the CPS is:

*  workstation (HP9000 Series 700), 64 MB RAM, 800 MB disk.

Value Added Integrator (VAI)

The VAI is installed at the telecom organization premise.  It is
the source of telecom data for end users. Via a Basic Integrator
(BI), the VAI interfaces to the TSP's operation support systems,
business support systems and network management systems. It
makes information available to the CPS via a CMIS-based
interface.

The Basic Integrator is simply a bridging module that converts
information between the proprietary  operation systems (OS) and
the standards-based VAI.

The recommended hardware configuration for the VAI is:

*  multi-user system (HP9000 Series 800), 64 MB RAM, 2.6GB disc.

*  supports 30 CPSs

Typical CNM applications that can be developed using the HP
OpenView HARMONi platform and its associated services and tools
are:

*  Alarm and Fault Management Application

   - Alarms

   - Fault Correction or Bypass

   - Testing

   - Logging (historical data)

*  Accounting (and Service  Order) Management Application

   - Charging Information

   - Quota Control

   - Real-time Charging Information

*  Configuration (and Name Management) Application

   - Changing Configurations

   - Equipment and Services Information

*  Performance Management Application

   - Traffic Information

   - Quality of Service

   - Service Testing

*  Security Management Application

   - Password Management

   - Access Management

   - Encryption

The key to success is time-to-market and the HP OpenView HARMONi
platform enables the introduction of new services much quicker.
Interoperability with services to other TSPs is also warranted
due to the adoption of various industry standards covered
earlier. The competitiveness and differentiation between the
various TSPs is achieved by the type of services being offered
and note development platform used to provide these value-added
services.

3.0 HP CNM Product and Services

3.1 HP OpenView HARMONi Platform

HP provides the HP OpenView HARMONi platform upon which
management solutions can be built in the area of Customer
Network Management. In the future more components will be added
to assist in the development of TMN and CPM solutions.

Based on this architecture, the HP OpenView HARMONi platform is
the first CNM product developed by HP. It consists of the
following components:

*  Communications and presentation infrastructure comprising the
   OpenView Windows and OpenView Communications Infrastructure

*  Object-oriented  management services which provide the common
   management functionality that is required by most management
   solutions. These include, the DataRelationshipStore, (a data
   management service), and the Event Management Service

*  Generic management applications which provide the basic
   functionality that allows the platform to be usable from day
   one. These include the DataWalker and the basic Security and
   Administration applications

*  A comprehensive set of development tools which assist
   developers to deliver solutions with minimum effort. These
   include the object class translator and the MetaDataStore

With these functional components, the HP OpenView HARMONi
platform has the following characteristics:

*  Open system based on OSF/DME standards

*  Modular

*  Distributed

*  Extensible applications can be developed incrementally to
   extend the functionality, without modifying existing capability

*  Reduce development effort required by developers

3.2 CNM Consulting Services

Implementing CNM is a fairly complex task and requires
significant integration work with existing operation systems.

Hewlett-Packard has developed various consulting services in
order to ensure successful implementation of the HP OpenView
HARMONi platform and CNM applications.

The CNM consulting services are:

*  CNM Functional Requirements Analysis

*  CNM Object Modelling

*  CNM Application Design and Development

*  CNM System Deployment Planning

For more information please refer to the:

*  HP OpenView HARMONi Platform Product Brochure

*  HP OpenView HARMONi  CMN  Consulting Services Brochure

*  HP OpenView HARMONi  Technical Evaluation Guide


#1 The Andersen Consulting report on "Telephone Customers Sound
   Off About Customer Service", Nov. 1990



Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

@Copyright 1992
Hewlett-Packard Company

Printed in Singapore

SNO-3 4/93