Intelligent agents for network management

Concerns how British Telecom has undertaken an ambitious program of modernisation in its telecommunications network. In order to derive full service and cost benefits from modernisation and exploit the opportunities for monitoring and control of the network provided by network digitalisation British Telecom has adopted a strategy known as Total Network Management. The object of Total Network Management is to maximise its effectiveness by co-ordinating activities related to its utilisation and serviceability. These activities include performance monitoring of transmission systems, scheduling of repairs for transmission and switching systems, monitoring of equipment utilisation, prediction of equipment failure, allocation of transmission equipment with available capacity to meet urgent network demands and future planning of extensions to network capacity. One of the objectives of the MAIN project at BTRL is to explore possible applications of distributed artificial intelligence to support the objectives of Total Network Management