Monitoring infrastructure for converged networks and services

Network convergence is enabling service providers to deploy a wide range of services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol television (IPTV), and push-to-talk on the same underlying IP networks. Each service has unique performance requirements from the network, and IP networks have not been designed to satisfy these diverse requirements easily. These requirements drive the need for a robust, scalable, and easy-to-use network management platform that enables service providers to monitor and manage their networks to provide the necessary quality, availability, and security. In this paper, we describe monitoring mechanisms that give service providers critical information on the performance of their networks at a per-user, per-service granularity in real time. This allows the service providers to ensure that their networks adequately satisfy the requirements of the various services. We present various methods to acquire data, which can be analyzed to determine the performance of the network. This platform enables service providers to offer carrier grade services over their converged networks, giving their customers a high-quality experience. © 2007 Alcatel-Lucent.