CORBA connection, Partnership will yield a TMN gateway that could aid interconnection

A partnership between two software companies to incorporate common object request broker architecture technology into a Telecommunications Management Network-based solution could yield a more elegant way to integrate carriers' legacy networks and provide a workable approach to interconnection.

The partnership between OpenCon Systems Inc. and Expersoft Corp. is aimed at creating a new gateway that will give carriers an open, protocol-independent method of accessing legacy systems. OpenCon will integrate Expersoft's CORBAplus technology into its TMN Gateway product, which it hopes to roll out within three months.

"The problem that many carriers face is that there has never been a single standard set for network management," said Wind Chen, vice president of product planning and sales engineering for the Piscataway, N.J.-based OpenCon Systems. "The three most common protocols are TL-1, [simple network management protocol] and [common management information protocol], and these all may exist within the same carrier's operations.

To secure the investments already made in software and equipment, the gateway will target these three protocols and provide what Chen described as a "staging facility" to support the translation of CORBA IDL to TL1, SNMP and CMIP protocols at the open systems interconnection seven-layer level.

CORBA provides the gateway with an efficient, object-based method of translating between protocols, supporting applications written in C++, Java and Visual Basic languages.

The gateway development will target three facets of telecommunications, said Steve Sybert, vice president of worldwide telecommunications for the San Diego-based Expersoft. "The object-oriented nature of CORBA will help developers create new applications faster by providing reusable software elements," he said. "While that's important, the other two areas we're focusing on are even more pressing issues for the telecommunications industry - providing a view of network and customer information to the external world, and refining the interaction between legacy systems internally.

"There are 6000 carriers out there, and for each carrier to negotiate an individual agreement based on proprietary network systems with every other carrier is impossible," he said. "CORBA can serve as a Rosetta Stone between these systems, and we think this fits into the bigger business picture.

CORBA is a key method for simplifying network management and interconnection issues, although its impact on the telecommunications industry will depend on carriers' eagerness to solve problems, analysts said.

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