The Challenge

To build a Carrier Class multi-service Network Management System (NMS) for a broad range of diverse network equipment. The equipment included IP / MPLS routers, Ethernet switches, ATM/Frame Relay/CEM switches either built by the equipment provider or OEM’d from others.

The NMS had to provide streamlined FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance & Security) support abstracting away the underlying differences of the individual network equipment while presenting a unified management view to the end user. 

The system had to be highly scalable (10s to 1000s of network elements) and highly reliable to meet the 5 nines (99999) uptime required by telecom’s operator’s.

The Solution

The senior team at Amartus held key leadership roles on this product development team totalling some 55 engineers across two sites (Ireland & US). They oversaw the product strategy, engineering management, architecture / design & engineering aspects of the solution.

The NMS solution incorporated many frameworks & components supporting a comprehensive set of feature including Graphical Networks Maps, Network Discovery, Performance Monitoring, Network Configuration, Fault Management, Multi-Service Provisioning, Inventory Management and an OSS Integration Interface  based on TMF 814/ CORBA standards. 

The solution had a Web based GUI and was built using Java / Java Swing / Servlet’s running on Apache Tomcat on both MS Windows and Solaris Servers. 

The solution was built with the goal of minimising the time to provide support for new equipment or software.   

The team worked in close co-operation with the equipment teams at the vendor to align the roadmap for the NMS with the roadmaps for each piece of supported equipment.