Question 9/XV - Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM)
interfaces for
transmission equipment intended for connection to a
Telecommunications Management Network (TMN)
(Continuation of Question 12/XV 1985-1988)

Considering

(1) that Recommendation G.771 has not been completed;

(2) that transmission equipment implemented with large scale integrated
circuitry and/or microprocessors is now being deployed;

(3) that in addition to transmission functions this equipment has the
intelligence to perform auxiliary OAM functions such as:

-administration,

- automatic provisioning and testing of circuits,

-performance testing and diagnosing the equipment itself and the
connecting line system,

as defined by Study Group IV in Recommendations M.30, M.36 and M.550;

(4) that this equipment may communicate with local and/or remote,
computer-based operations systems to perform these auxiliary OAM
functions;

(5) that it may be possible (by means of suitable adaptors) to realize
on existing analogue and digital transmission equipment some of the
benefits arising from connection to a TMN;

(6) that overhead channels are being defined for OAM purposes (for
example Study Group XVIII for the digital synchronous hierarchy),

1. How should Recommendation G.771 be amended and completed?

2. What OAM features should be recommended for new transmission
equipment and/or mediation devices?

3. What should be the recommended fundamental relationship between the
transmission functions and the operations functions and what should be
recommended for the division of these functions between the transmission
equipment, mediation devices and the supporting operations system?

4. What characteristics should be recommended for OAM interfaces on
transmission equipment and on any supporting mediation devices and what
physical media and communications protocols should be recommended?

5. What human-machine language functions and/or messages should be
recommended to manage transmission equipment in real time?

6. What characteristics should be recommended for mediation devices
connected to transmission equipment (physical, functional, etc.)?

7. If more than one protocol is recommended, what selection process
should be recommended for the determination of the most appropriate OAM
interface on a given transmission equipment?

8. What should be recommended for the characteristics of Q Interface
Adapters (as defined in Recommendation M.30) for the connection to a TMN
of existing transmission equipment (analogue and digital) that does not
have recommended Q interfaces?

9. What minimum set of TMN application functions would have to be
implemented in different types of analogue and digital transmission
equipment?

10. What application functions, required for the use of transmission
equipment, should be implemented in a Q3 interface?

11. What should be the partitioning of functions and the selection of
protocols for the use of overhead channel within facilities, for TMN
application functions?

12. What new terms and definitions should be recommended relevant to TMN
issues?

Notes

1. Study Group IV has overall responsibility for the coordination of
studies on TMN.

2.Study Group XI has responsibility for studying OAM interface Q3.

3. Study Group XV has responsibility for studying OAM interfaces Q1 and
Q2.

4. Study Group XV has the responsibility for coordinating studies of TMN
with CCIR Study Groups 4 and 9 and also with CMTT.

5. Study Group XV should liaise closely with Study Groups IV and XI in
the study of this Question including the development of suitable
terminology.

6. Study Groups X and IV are examining the application of human-machine
interface for OAM.

7. Parts 8 and 9 of Question 9/XV and parts 2.3 and 2.5 of Question
26/XV deal with transmission equipment according to existing
Recommendations and should be studied together.