OSI interface for integrated network management

The Common Management Information Service Element (CMISE) and its impact on the operation of telecommunication networks are discussed. The author examines the benefits of using open system interconnection (OSI) CMISE as a standard interface for providing seamless operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P) across telecommunication networks. Since CMISE is based on the object-oriented representation (OOR) technique, the principles of OOR and its extensions are presented. These extensions are created to accommodate the requirements of interface specifications and to provide CMISE with the ability to access and control any network element. A summary of the CMISE primitives used to manipulate objects and of their attributes is also presented. An example that demonstrates the added flexibility and benefits provided by a CMISE interface, compared with those of traditional command interface designs, is given