An approach to the cooperative management of multitechnology networks

This article presents a TMN-compliant X interface, the so-called Xcoop interface, as a fundamental component of an operations system developed to cope with the challenges of multidomain, multitechnology networks. Defined at the network level, between operations systems of different TMN domains, it is intended as a support for the management of broadband connectivity services with end-to-end QoS and scheduling constraints in backbones operated by many network operators. The key feature of the present approach, distinguishing it from other existing Xcoop solutions, is in handling the integrated ATM and SDH technologies, covering both the configuration management and fault management functional areas.