Network management challenges for next generation networks

Generally, current network management technologies follow two approaches: ITU-Ts recommendations for telecommunication management network (TMN) and IETF's Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) that favors IP networks. The applications based on these approaches are specifically targeted at a variety of independent networks including the standard public switched telephone network (PSTN), the public switched data network (PSDN), the public land mobile network (PLMN), and the wireless local area network (WLAN), etc., all of which will be integrated into a single IP-based infrastructure referred to as next generation networks (NGN) in the near future. The services, network architectures and traffic pattern in NGN will dramatically differ from the current networks. The heterogeneity and complexity of NGN bring a number of challenges to its network management. In this paper, we first introduce the current network management approaches and describe some deficiencies of current solutions. Then, the network management challenges in NGN are presented and discussed. Finally, some emerging approaches towards network management in NGN are illustrated