Network operations: key to network services

It is predicted that the telephone network of today will evolve to become an information delivery network, capable of providing a variety of voice, data, and image services. One of the key facilitators of this transformation will be network operations. The increasing complexity of new services and their rapid deployment velocity stress existing operation systems (OSs) to the extent that both the OS and the network architecture must rapidly evolve. Recent advances in technology and standards provide the opportunity for new network elements and new OSs to be introduced to dramatically improve overall network operations. This will lead to the realization of responsive, flexible and efficient networks. It is predicted that future operations will be characterized by: increased automation; self-healing, self-diagnosing, and dynamic reconfiguration capabilities; increased flow-through for the provisioning and trouble handling of more complex services; improved capabilities to meet increased and unpredicted customer traffic; and increased direct access and control by the customer