4.2 Integration levels

32.1503GPPIntegration Reference Point (IRP) Concept and definitionsRelease 17Telecommunication managementTS

Virtually all types of telecom/datacom networks comprise many different technologies purchased from several different vendors. This implies that the corresponding management solution need to be built by integrating product-specific applications from different vendors with a number of generic applications that each provide some aspect of multi‑vendor and/or multi‑technology support. A complete management solution is thus composed of several independent applications.

The following levels of integration are defined:

– Screen Integration: Each application provides its own specific Graphical User Interface (GUI) that need to be accessible from a single, unified screen (a common desktop). A seamless integration between the various GUIs is then required. Screen Integration is not specified in the present document.

– Application Integration: Applications need to interwork, on a machine-machine basis, in order to automate various end-to-end processes of a communication provider.

4.2.1 Application integration

Interfaces related to application integration can be divided in the following three categories:

1) High-level generic interfaces: between generic applications on the network and service management layers. The same approach and concepts apply for these as the next category.

2) High-level (technology-independent to the extent possible) interfaces: between product-specific and generic applications are needed in order to automate and streamline frequently occurring tasks applicable to several types of network elements. A top-down approach shall be taken when defining these interfaces, where the main input is:

a) business processes of a communication provider; and

b) the types of generic applications that are used to implement the process support.

3) Detailed (product-specific) interfaces: between product-specific applications and the corresponding network elements are of course also needed. These interfaces are defined using the traditional bottom-up approach, where the actual network infrastructure is modelled. This is the traditional TMN approach to element management. The management information in these interfaces is not further discussed in the present document, as it is internal to a specific development organization and does not need to be open. In fact, by publishing the management information in these interfaces, too much of the internal design may be revealed and it may become impossible to later enhance the systems that are using the interfaces. The management services (operations and notifications) and protocol shall however be open and standardized as long as they are independent of the NRM describing the managed NEs/NRs.