A Platform Architecture for the Integration of CORBA Technology within TMN Framework

Up to now, a lot of efforts have been made for the management of telecommunication networks and equipment, but less effort has been made for the realization of higher-layer service and business management. Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) provides the infrastructure for interoperability of various object-oriented management applications in a distributed environment, and being widely used to develop distributed systems in many areas of information processing technologies. There are recently worldwide growing interests for applying CORBA technology for the realization of higher layer Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) management functions. In this paper, we compare the features of TMN and CORBA with respect to information model, and operational behavior. And then, we propose a platform architecture for the efficient integration of CORBA technology within TMN framework. Within platform architecture, GDMO/ASN.1 to IDL translator has been designed and implemented for translating TMN management information into CORBA IDL interface. The TMN/CORBA gateway is also designed for realization of the interaction translation specification of JIDM task force. The libraries and code generators have been designed and implemented in a modular fashion to provide the functional extensibility.