Issues on the allocation of performance objectives for common channel signaling (CCS) networks

Discusses issues on the allocation of end-to-end performance objectives to common channel signaling (CCS) network elements. Practical considerations result in end-to-end performance objectives being usually allocated to network elements in such a way that, if the allocated performance objective for each network element is satisfied, then the end-to-end performance objective can be guaranteed. This allocation process makes it possible to plan and engineer individual network elements according to uniform rules. It is not trivial to determine a feasible allocation scheme, let alone an effective one, especially when percentile types of end-to-end performance objectives are involved, as is the case for CCS networks. The paper outlines a number of key issues, and proposes possible solutions to some of them