Integrated network management system (INMS) for undersea cable operations

As the undersea cable networks in the Pacific Ocean grow larger every year, so does the responsibility and complexity of managing them. Looking for a solution to assist their network management centers, AT&T and KDD decided to jointly develop and deploy the integrated network management system (INMS), the first international bilateral network management system, to manage the undersea cables in the Pacific Ocean. The INMS integrates the existing AT&T and KDD national network management support systems, provides their personnel with a unified network status, and allows them to quickly identify those facilities that are in a failed or degraded state. In addition, INMS mechanizes the restoration implementation process as well as provides AT&T and KDD users with real time restoration status, thereby reducing the average service outage time that customers experience as a result of undersea cable failures. This paper describes the joint AT&T and KDD vision of undersea cable management and the INMS platform used to achieve the vision. The key INMS functionalities and the future evolution of INMS in support of synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are also discussed.