Towards non-expert users monitoring networks and services through semantically enhanced visualizations

Managing networks and services in large virtual enterprises often requires significant expertise to decipher and reconcile information coming from several heterogeneous sources. This presents a significant challenge as the person with the network management expertise is not necessarily the person who has the task or vision of how to maximize the value of these services. Conversely it would be valuable for dedicated network managers to have insight into the meaning of the services running over the network. This paper presents an approach to empowering users to monitor and eventually manage network devices and services that they are not necessarily expert in. This paper details this challenge, presents two enabling technological frameworks and offers two compelling case studies currently being addressed in the Federated, Autonomic Management of End-to-End Communications Services (FAME) project.