Using CORBA and XML to Deliver Unified NGN Management Interfaces - Rationale and Summary

The targets of NGN/BcN management (NGNM) are packet-based transport strata and converged service strata. NGNM standardisation should develop unified open interfaces for NGN stratum management that are rich in multi-transmission technology and multi-service capabilities and enable lean operations for converged NGN/BcN with unified user experience and presence. This challenge can be met through development of a single open and component-oriented interface specification for managing next-generation networks and services, which is in harmony with key related standards. The layer, which exposes the reference points of such a unified (and universal) NGNM interface, is termed unified management layer (uML) and introduced here. This short paper provides a rationale and a summary of the uML vision. A detailed overview of the novel uML paradigm is available as a full paper [2]. Further results on developing and scoping the uML are available as a technical report [3].