Conference azur::mcc

3251.0. "DECmcc/NT's IWS interoperability demo report" by TOOK::MATTHEWS () Thu Jun 25 1992 16:39

On June 24, 1992, EMF successfully completed the first round of
interoperability testing between DECmcc and Northern Telecom's IWS management
station which manages the NT X.25 DPN switches. The interoperability
was via OSI CMIP at the IS level of the standards. The prototype
OSI CMIP AM was able to establish connection with an IWS event sieve
and field events at one a second for a period of 15 minutes. The
events were displayed via the FCL using the notify directive so
we were integrated through all layers of MCC functionality with
the exception of the iconic map. During the second round of 
interoperability testing (tentatively scheduled for September)
we will test the get identifiers capability that is necessary
to integrate with the iconic map PM. 

The NT IWS uses RETIX's OSI CMIP stack on a SUN Sparcstation. DECmcc
used a DECstation 5000/125 with Ultrix, OSAK, and the OSI CMIP Protocol
Stack developed by EMF for DECmcc. The testing verified that the 
stacks interoperated correctly. It was not designed to be an exhaustive
test since Bell Northern Research (the development subsidiary of Northern
Telecom) was not ready to test GET and SET functionality. However,
we were able to make associations between the 2 systems reliably, create
and delete Event Sieves, and to receive events over the link.

Our primary mission for the test was to test out our OSI CMIP implementation
against another companies CMIP implementation. This was an OUTSTANDING
SUCCESS. We discovered several areas for improvement but essentially our
OSI CMIP works as advertised. I would like to thank Arun Sankar for all the
work she has done over the last year and a half to get this done. Hopefully
seeing this work will make up for the on again off again nature of the
OSI CMIP work.

Our secondary mission was to demonstrate that DECmcc OSI AM implementation
(as far as it is implemented) worked and provides a solid base for future
development in our joint development with TBG. This was achieved but with
a few compromises in the code for expediency.

We have something to show Canada Post, Swift Banking Group, and Daimler
Benz that I believe they would buy. A direct quote from Madgy Maklouf,
the director of networking at Canada Post, "Any vendor that integrates
events from all the devices in the network into a single sink on a
workstation will be the Management Systems vendor for Canada Post".
Canada Posts network is largely a DECnet and SNA network which has
NT DPNs at the x25 level. Codex is their supplier for modems,
statistical Muxes, and T1s (really Stratacom IPXs). With the capability
of DECmcc to integrate DECnet, SNA (via the Aetius project), and OSI
events (NTs IWS, Codex management Systems, and Strataview all announced
for OSI interoperability), DECmcc is in the best position to be that
management system.

The second trial is scheduled for September at the Canada Post facility
to demonstrate the interoperability of the 2 systems to the customer. At
that time we will be able to demo GET (show in DEC speak) and SET
functionality. This will allow integration with the Iconic Map.

One interesting piece of intelligence that came out of the trial is that
we are ahead of HP in the area of OSI CMIP interoperability. BNR/NT has
been hounding HP to do connectivity testing similar to what we just
completed. HP is unwilling to discuss doing it although they are
telling customers that they have it working in the labs. This could
be used by our marketing effort to point out that HP claims things
that they can't show while Digital is actually doing things that
they don't yet claim. This should especially help slow down HP in
Europe where there is strong support for OSI from the customer 
community. 

Blair Young, the BNR developer of their agent, just returned from a trip
to Europe pushing OSI interoperation between Management Systems. He said
that HP was everywhere blowing smoke about OSI futures. He said that the
customers wanted to know from BNR/NT when they were ready to test with HP.
He was constantly telling them that HP could and would not commit to
a date, but that DEC had already scheduled an interoperability test which
went well beyond simple connectivity. If we use this well we can put
a significant dent in HP's credibility in Europe.

I want to thank the engineers who made this happen in a short development
cycle. Stella Ko, our project leader, actually started working full time
in mid March. Bruce Trull has been on the project only a couple of
months. Arun Sankar has been working on the project for about 7 months
scattered over the last year and a half. The team worked many hours of 
over time to get to this point and deserve all the praise we can give them.

wally 

cc:
nm%taec::flauw         !Marc Flauw the TNMP project leader
nm%taec::jardin        !Pierre Jardin the TBG consultant
nm%taec::denis         !Michel Denis the NMF technical consultant
nm%taec::postaire      !Benoit Postaire DECros
nm%taec::charrier      !DECros
nm%taec::hary          !TeMip Product Manager
nm%taec::stunault      !TeMip Project Leader
nm%feric::harper       !TBG engineering Manager
nm%csgdec::ackermann   !TBG Marketing Manager
nm%bonnet::valentine   !NMS Relationship Manager Europe
nm%bonnet::latouche    !OSI interest list
nm%clarid::patel       !OSI interest list
nm%cciis1::roggeband   !OSI interest list
nm%blumon::crosby      !NMS Manager
nm%dsipc::gat          !NMS Architect Manager
nm%drums::fehskens     !NMS Senior Architect
nm%blumon::keyworth    !NMS Business Manager
nm%delni::ferreira     !NMS EMF Product Manager
nm%blumon::weisenfeld  !NMS EMF Product Manager
nm%jsg                 !NMS Strategic Relations Manager
nm%frosty::andersen    !Network Management Applications LOB
nm%frosty::korf        !NMS Marketing Manager
nm%frosty::biedrzycki  !NMS Marketing
nm%enuf::gassman       !Network Management Applications marketing
nm%fsoa::yang          !Swift BG marketing rep
nm%otoa01::zyzanski    !Ottawa Networking Consultant rep for Canada Post
nm%otoa01::danaher     !Ottawa account rep for Bell Canada
nm%trco01::flotner     !Toronto OSI interest
nm%cthq::jakus         !Corporate Telecom OSI interest for Newbridge
nm%tpsys::gajnak       !MIA OSI Interest
nm%marvin::cobb        !DECnis OSI Interest
baradello              !NMS EMF LOB
wellington             !NMS support team
Strutt                 !NMS EMF technical director
wong                   !NMS architect
nm%capn::sylor         !NMS architect
d_shurtleff            !NMS architect