SONET and OSI: making a connection

The application of open system interconnection (OSI) protocol and management principles to synchronous optical network (SONET) operations and management is described. The role of the seven-layer OSI protocol stack in allowing SONET network elements to communicate with each other and with operation systems (OSs) by way of SONET data communications channels, local area networks (LANs), and wide-area packet-switched networks is discussed. The use of object-oriented information modeling techniques and the services of the common management information service element (CMISE) for developing standardized operations messages are described. The transition from the current operations communications environment supported by many OSs to the fully OSI-based target environment is briefly discussed.<>