Managed growth

Since 1997, Focal Communications has expanded its network switch by switch, region by region. With eight Nortel Networks DMS-500 switches on its national network map, the Chicago-based competitive local exchange carrier recognized that the time had come to optimize its network with additional management tools.

Facilities-based Focal leases DS-1 (1.54 Mb/s) and DS-3 (44.7 Mb/s) capacity from MCI WorldCom, AT&T and incumbent LECs. Within its operations support system (OSS), Focal maintains equipment inventories, customer record assignments, circuit layout records and trouble ticketing information. To monitor the performance of its frame relay network, Focal collects billing, traffic and other statistics into various databases.

With its network and customer list growing, Focal decided to add Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris Communications' Harris Network Management in January to remotely monitor and control its network.

"HNM allows us to look at our entire network-down to air conditioning units and door locks-from one system in one central location," said John Barnicle, chief operating officer at Focal. "It gives us historical and trending information that we lacked from just using switch outputs. We've also developed scripts that take generic alarm information and translate it into information that helps us quickly get to the root of a problem."

HNM monitors the eight switches, various multiplexing devices and numerous pieces of data communications equipment. It also oversees air conditioning systems, power backup systems and environmental and security alarms. "When we had a single switch, it was easy enough to keep tabs on it," said Barnicle. "Now, with eight switches in locations spread coast to coast, it would be impossible to monitor everything from our centralized control center without a system such as HNM."

Because Focal was moving from a temporary control center to a permanent facility, Harris deployed HNM in two stages over a six-week period. The first stage involved getting the system up and running in the temporary location. During the second stage, Harris and Focal installed a redundant host computer at the permanent location. That computer operated simultaneously with the one housed at the temporary site so that there was no downtime during the move.

"HNM puts Focal into a proactive mode," said Ashley Fleeman, program manager at Harris. "Using one system, Focal can determine problems, isolate faults, forecast problems down the road and correlate alarms for events on the network."

Focal is still linking HNM to its OSS system, but Barnicle said the procedure should be very straightforward because both systems are based upon Sun Microsystems servers, Unix operation systems and similar relational database systems.

With networks becoming more complex, both Barnicle and Fleeman claim interoperability is a priority for future generation management tools. "The key going forward is the ability to integrate disparate systems," said Barnicle.

"Many of those systems will be within a company's control, and many will be used to interface to other carriers' systems."

Fleeman agreed. "Next generation tools will need to be flexible so that they can accommodate the changes of a carrier's businesses, and they need to be open and integrate with other OSSs."

For some observers, Focal's attention to network management devices could be viewed as a sign of moving into a different league. In general, network management is less important than provisioning or ordering for growing carriers.

For many smaller carriers, network management is a non-issue, said Debra Katz, principal analyst at Dataquest. "Companies that have established infrastructures will look at network management to optimize their resources. Typically, smaller carriers are leasing capacity or have more network than clients, so capacity is not an issue," she added.

FLAT-RATE CHAT USA Talks.com is adding five POPs during the next six weeks. The company will expand its flat-rate Internet phone service to Dallas, Houston, and Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, Fla., by the end of March and add 27 cities to its coverage area during April.

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SLAs FOR FRAME RELAY NextPoint Networks and Paradyne have joined to offer network service providers a tool to monitor service levels for frame relay networks. The companies have combined Paradyne's FrameSaver Service Level Frame Relay Management System and NextPoint's S3 Business-Centric Network Management software suite.