Telecommunications management network: vision vs. reality

Since the early 1980s, the standards bodies have been specifying the telecommunications management network (TMN) principles. Millions of dollars have been spent. The TMN principles aim at being applicable across telecommunications technologies. They recommend the use of independent management networks to manage telecommunications networks, elements in the telecommunications networks (managed networks), and managing systems (in managing networks), communicating via well defined, standardized interfaces. The standards bodies envisioned TMN as a possible solution to the complex problem of telecommunications networks and services operation, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM and P) in the open, multivendor environment. However, the vision stumbles against the reality. Various factors still hinder the implementation of TMN-based OAM and P systems. The present article provides a tutorial on TMN by contrasting the vision and the reality