TINA and the Software Infrastructure of the Telecom Network of the Future [Vol. 5, No. 4, 1997]

TINA and the Software Infrastructure of the Telecom Network of the Future

Paul Prozeller
AT&T Labs
Room 1G337
101 Crawfords Corner Road
Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030
Email: p.e.prozeller_AT_att.com

Abstract
The overall goal of the Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture (TINA) is to define and specify a software architecture for the telecommunications infrastructure which encompasses networking, network services, and operations, to handle the increasingly distributed nature of software in networks. The purpose of this paper is to describe how TINA may be positioned in the software infrastructure of future telecommunications networks, with the focus on the infrastructures of Public Telecommunications Operators (PTOs). An architecture for a new PTO network infrastructure is proposed and the needs that this architecture satisfies are discussed. The concept of the "programmable network" is introduced to satisfy the PTO need to quickly trial and deploy new services. Five aspects of this target architecture are discussed, namely: a client/server architecture, a service creation architecture, an application architecture, a PTO federation architecture, and a new management architecture. The potential role of TINA in each aspect is described, and the potential benefits of TINA to PTOs are summarized.

Keywords: distributed computing, distributed processing, Intelligent Networking (IN), operations systems, telecommunications infrastructures, Telecommunications Management Network (TMN)

JNSM: Vol. 5, No. 4, 1997 TINA and the Software Infrastructure of the Telecom Network of the Future [Vol. 5, No. 4, 1997]

NOTE: only abstract of paper available on-line

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