A new functional model for management of optical transport network nodes

Pan-European WDM optical transport networks (OTN), as the supporting infras tructure for the push toward an "information society" will require new leve ls of management and supervision to ensure the quality of payload delivery. Several European funded projects such as MEPHISTO and MOON have addressed the needs for WDM-OTN Management Systems Support, proposing layered managem ent object information models as a standard. This paper presents a function al model for the optical nodes of a transport network, from which we derive a new specialization for the cross-connection fragment in the generic netw ork information model, introducing the notion of status matrix (SM) to a ne w wdmFabricR1 object class, This specialization allows for better managemen t of optical cross-connects (OXC) even with reduced connection capabilities . The functional model could also be used in the optical control plane of t he future automatic snitched optical network (ASON). The SM is automaticall y derived from the routing control CRC) matrix, which represents all operat ional elements of the OXC available to establish any connection, The RC mat rix is also automatically derived from the physical architecture using a fu nctional routing description of the optical components. Examples of their u tilization are presented and results given for two different routing strate gies. First, a simple random decision is made whilst second a strategy call ed "Emptiest Status Matrix" (ESM) is adopted. The ESM algorithm results see m to support the choice of the SM model described as a strong candidate for better support in WDM-OTN OXC network element management.