A Model and APIs for Service Management on an ATM Network

The architectural reference point for our work is a reference model which associates functionality with operational planes along three orthogonal abstracted models. Within the context of this reference model a service management model is proposed. The model makes use of APIs for communicating management information between a management application and service entities distributed in an ATM network. The APIs are based upon native ATM APIs that are similar to those that have recently been adopted by the ATM Forum. The viability of the model is demonstrated by building ATM multimedia services with service management capabilities. The model and the APIs have been applied to services executing in a national ATM network. Although the work is motivated by an ATM network, the service management model is general, and may be applied to other networks as well. Some open issues in service management are brought out.