Where did I put that switch? Perspectives in asset management

Traditionally, asset management has not been regarded as an explicit functional area in the telecommunications management network model. Whatever be the cause for this, it may be a contributory factor for asset management being underemphasized in the administration of communications networks. Indeed, the approach to many government and defense network operations and maintenance efforts has been to employ paper records, or at best, spreadsheets. Where software solutions have been developed, they have been mainframe-based and have grown beyond their intended scope, and consequently, become unwieldy. The asset management problem has been exacerbated by the plethora of systems and devices and the brief product lifecycles of today. However, the increasing intelligence of management systems and, indeed, of the very objects they are managing, provides the opportunity to keep the management problem in check, especially managing the logical aspects. Despite this, automated and disciplined management of the physical context of assets continues to be problematic. In this paper, we describe the requirements for asset management based on our experience in operating and maintaining commercialized defense networks and other medium-to-large enterprise environments. Our experience is presented in the context of a system that we have developed to meet the specific needs of these networks and environments. Real-world challenges and workarounds are discussed in this paper, along with areas of future evolution.