An OSI-based interoperability architecture for managing hybrid networks

The management of hybrid corporate networks comprising a wide variety of equipment and services offered by different vendors and service providers is addressed. The public carrier environment in which such networks must operate is described. Five categories of system management functional areas set forth in the ISO/IEC Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) standards are defined. They are fault management, accounting management, configuration management, performance management, and security management. The interoperability architecture provided by the standards is examined, and two example applications are given: a corporate banking voice network, and OSI-based configuration management applied to automatic call distribution.<>