Architecture for the management and presentation of communication network performance data

Packet-based data networks such as British Telecommunications (BT) plc's switched multimegabit data service (SMOS) have performance that varies with customer behavior, network design, and network provision. This paper describes a system researched to monitor such networks from the customer's perspective, but on behalf of the operator. The information generated allows the operator to determine whether the network is performing correctly or whether changes or customer load will require the network to be changed in some way. Such networks are increasingly important as many parts of the Internet are built on similar technologies. The paper specifically considers an architecture that encompasses all the main functionality involved in performance management of networks. Consideration is given to the management and dissemination of the data collected. A database to enhance network data mining performance is described. A method to identify the periods of significance in the measurement data based on a statistical test and a neural network is incorporated into a realization of the architecture. In addition, a novel mechanism for the real-time presentation of the network performance data in an operator-friendly manner is given.