Conference azur::mcc

1652.0. "Swiss PTT Success Story" by BSYBEE::EGOLF (John C. Egolf LKG2-2/T02 x226-7874) Tue Oct 15 1991 10:33

EMA - Enterprise Management Architecture Sucess Story: (for public use)

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            SWISS PTT DECIDES FOR EMA FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THERE
                             PUPLIC DATA NETWORKS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Swiss PTT's Teleinformatics Division chooses DEC/EMA as their planning 
framework for the NM/TI (Network-Management for Tele-Informatics) project.

With the NM/TI project the Swiss PTT will achieve the following major goals:
     
     - Cost control	(Reduction of Operation Costs)
     - Quality control 	(Control of the Service Quality)
     - Flexibility 	(Ability to flexibly adapt the production of                 
     			 telematicservices to the market demands)

To obtain these goals the Swiss PTT plans to implement a National Network 
Management Operating Center to monitor and operate there Data Networks such as 
Telepac (X.25), Videotex, Domestic leased-lines, X.400-Public Electronic Mail, 
etc..

The NM/TI project is subdivided in three major phases:

     I    Requirement analysis
     II   Architecture definition (current phase)
     III  Implementation

Phase I was closed in April 1991. In the current Phase II the evaluation for 
the best suited architecture was done by the Swiss PTT together with a 
independent software house.

In April 91, eight manufacturers of potential network architecture were asked 
for tender (ASCOM AMS; ATT UNMA Accumaster Integrator; British Telecom CONCERT; 
DEC EMA (-DECmcc/-TNMP); Ericson TMOS; HP OpenView; IBM SystemView/NetView; 
Northern Telecom IWS). Only DEC/EMA and HP/OpenView were able to fullfill all 
must requirements.
In the final evaluation DEC/EMA was chosen over HP OpenView as "the best suited 
architecture, given the application environment and requirements of the 
telecommunications networks operated by the Swiss PTT" (see attached document).

In the current project phase, DEC's TNMP is the base for the specifications of 
the NM/TI architecture. To evaluate the suitable implementation the Swiss PTT 
will jointly work together with DEC consultants in the next 9 months to come.

This very significant  WIN in a strategic area of our future business was only 
possible due to the enormous effort put into this project by Arnaud Michel @VBO 
and Claude Hary @VBO and the Telecom ACT Bern especially Conrad Jud @EBO, Edgar 
Gmuer @EBO as well as Beat Klaey @EBO (Account Representative).

I would like to thank everybody involved in this project so far and have made 
this major win possible with each of there individual effort.

Please finde attached the Management Summary of the document "Results of the 
study Network Management /Teleinformatics" done by the Swiss PTT.

For further project information and available reference names please contact 
Conrad Jud @EBO or Beat Klaey @EBO.



27.09.91/BKL/RMB

- Confidential -
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       Comparison of DEC-EMA and other Network Mamagement Architectures	
                	(feedback from the Swiss PTT)
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       Comparison of DEC-EMA and other Network Management Architectures
         (Results of the study "Network Management / Teleinformatics")


This document summarizes the results of the study referred to in the title, in 
the form of a list of the advantages and risks associated when deciding for the 
DEC-EMA (Enterprise Management Architecture).



Introduction:

Eight manufacturers of potential network architectures were queried on the 
functionality and application environment of their products.

The result of the study is that DEC-EMA is the best suited architecture for the 
application environment and requirements of the teleinformatic networks divison 
operated by the Swiss PTT.



Strengths of DEC-EMA:

DEC-EMA represents a well-engineered architectural concept for solving today's 
and future management functions in distributed systems. EMA supports flexible, 
multi-domain, peer-to-peer or hierarchical structures for creating a management 
network.

DEC-EMA is an open, strategic architecture and a product line that is princi-
pally designed for managing DEC's own communication infrastructure (DNA, 
DECnet). Because of its clear orientation on international standards (OSI mana-
gement) and the credible commitment of important international organizations 
(OSF (Open Software Foundation), OSI Network Management Forum), DEC-EMA pro-
vides a secure technical basis for the future. With this architecture it should 
be possible to steadily increase over time the interworking between DEC-EMA 
products and products of other manufacturers.

With the planned product line DECmcc/PNMP the DEC EMA concept takes into consi-
deration the management requirements of public networks. DEC-EMA can be inte-
grated into the existing system environment of the PTT telecommunications net-
work. (The availability of the first version of DECmcc/PNMP has been announced 
for spring 1992).

The available application spectrum covers certain general management require-
ments. The platform philosophy allows for the integration of additional 
applications and access capabilities to network elements. DEC-EMA is supported 
by a large number of manufacturers who will gradually develop a broad spectrum 
of management applications and access capabilities.



Risks:

Because open NM products are generally still in development or new on the mar-
ket many unsolved problems and uncertainties will remain in the forseeable fu-
ture. Based on the information currently available the following facts apply to 
DEC-EMA.

-   OSF

    OSF is currently inviting bids for a vendor-independent management plat-
    form. The result of this process will have a significant impact on the 
    design of future management systems (DME, distributed management environ-
    ment). DEC has also submitted an offer. The main competitor appears to be a 
    consortium lead by HP and IBM. For the successful bidder this means that 
    its OSF/DME compatible product will be available ahead of the others.

    If OSF decides in favor of HP/IBM many third party developments will move 
    in this direction. In this case DEC-EMA will also migrate to the OSF/DME 
    APIs so that third-party developments can be exploited. The migration to 
    OSF/DME APIs would involve a migration of any PTT custom developments.

-   VMS/ULTRIX

    The question to be settled in the medium term in conjunction with DEC-EMA 
    is whether it should be based on VMS or ULTRIX. The latter offers greater 
    potential for manufacturer-independence whereas the advantage of VMS is the  
    installed base at the PTT as well as the backup concepts (cluster). This 
    decision harbors certain risks which means that it needs to be analyzed in 
    greater depth.

    Note:
    The DECmcc/PNMP product which has strategic importance for Switzerland will 
    initially be developed for ULTRIX.

-   Module development

    The application and access capabilities supported by the DEC-EMA products 
    will, for the forseeable future, not be adequate for satisfying all mana-
    gement requirements of the PTT. For this reason custom developments for the 
    PTT will likely be necessary.

    DEC-EMA features a well-structured but nevertheless complex architecture. 
    This means that such developments can only be implemented by competent 
    specialists who have to gain experience in the integration of modules in 
    DEC-EMA. In addition the tool support for the development of new modules is 
    still very weak. As a consequence the expenses will initially be high. For 
    the long term a partner will have to be found or an in-house team that can 
    work more effectively in this complex development environment will have to 
    be built up.


-   Openness

    The central product, DECmcc, is open in the sense that the key architec-
    tural concepts and programming interfaces have been published and are 
    usable. Openness in the sense of portability of applications to other plat-
    forms does not exist however. This applies, for example, to the user inter-
    face, data base links and programming interfaces (APIs). This situation 
    will change when DEC can offer the OSF-DME interfaces.
 
                                              
    Explanation:
    With DECWindows a proprietary window system is currently being used. The 
    utilization of OSF/Motif or OpenLook would provide greater openness in this  
    area.
    A special data base system is used which is part of the DECmcc kernel; a 
    SQL interface is not implemented.
    A proprietary language (Management Specification Language - MSL) has to be 
    used for defining managed objects. (ASN.1 would be the equivalent from the 
    OSI world).


From:	NAME: Rene Burgener                 
	FUNC: SALES                           
	TEL: DTN:761-4631/+41(0)31-504631     <BURGENER AT BERN01A1 AT SKYWAY AT ZUO>
Date:	04-Oct-1991
Posted-date: 04-Oct-1991
Precedence: 1
Subject: EMA - Sucess Story (do be used as a reference)
To:	See Below
CC:	See Below