Interfacing with network elements for network management and control

One approach to solving the variety of problems involved with interfacing to an assortment of network elements (NEs) is to provide a network interface system that uses an event control philosophy. GTE Telecom has implemented this philosophy by developing a system known as the network interface system (NIS). The NIS enables an end user to logically connect through a terminal to any NE in the network that supports communications. The system uses a GTE Telecom-developed programming language to manage and control events. This language is called the network interface module language (NIML). This generic interface responds to event status changes and supports the data collection activities required by the host application managing the network. The architecture of the NIS is modular to maximize the amount of generic code. NIS can adapt itself to the unique environment required for a specific NE by loading a NIML object at run time that will manage the events of that particular interface