Telecommunications management network (TMN) architecture and interworking designs

The authors discuss data communications networks (DCNs) used by operating telephone companies to interconnect large numbers of telecommunications network elements with operations systems and workstations to support and manage telecommunications networks, referred to by the international telegraph and telephone consultative committee (CCITT) as a telecommunications management network (TMN). The TMNs can include different types of DCNs such as private lines, circuit-switched networks, packet-switched networks, and integrated services digital networks (ISDNs). These can be divided into two classes: connection-mode and connectionless-mode networks. The authors briefly consider TMN concepts and implementation architectures. They then focus on TMN internetworking design alternatives, issues, and protocol stacks, in order to provide data network designers and implementors with the necessary fundamentals in considering and choosing interworking solutions for TMN applications