Objective
Main Objective
The main objective of DIFFERENCE is to facilitate the cohesion of selected elements of architecture emerging from the ACTS programme and Industry in support of a European Open Service Market.
Technical Approach
This project will ensure that ACTS projects' results are more appropriate to industry by establishing close links to industry fora and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These will include OMG, EURESCOM, DAVIC, TINA-C and the Network Management Forum (NMF). Interaction with SMEs, who do not typically support these fora, will be achieved using the electronic dissemination services of SMARTS and INFOWIN.
Members of the project will bring current industry thinking on architecture to ACTS by participating in and contributing to relevant concertation (domain, cluster and chain) meetings). The telecoms business is increasingly using components from industry to achieve cost effective system solutions and the task of this project will be to assist and enhance this trend in architecturally related ACTS chains, in particular the NIM and SIA chains together with the CLIMATE cluster. These opportunities will also be used to provide feedback from industry and ensure that experts engaged by the project are vectored to the key project actors (see Figure 1).
This project will assist in providing an overall view of the relationships between a number of architectural frameworks and engineering disciplines that will have to be brought together for Trans-European IBC deployment. These common architectural frameworks include TMN and distributed system 3-tier frameworks, intelligent network frameworks, service management and creation frameworks, and Telco management services and computing system management.
Since the objective of DIFFERENCE is to leverage what is already on-going in ACTS and to develop synergy with other relevant fora, the central tenet of the technical approach is facilitation.
Facilitation in this context involves three support processes.
1.Architecture Cohesion - this is the project's technical and thematic representation of related elements of architecture across ACTS and fora.
2.Fora Liason - this represents the analysis, linkage to fora and resultant flows to and from ACTS to Industry relating to selected ACTS Chains and Clusters.
3.Chains (NIM & SIA) and Agent Cluster (CLIMATE) - this represents the concertation support activities.
Summary of Trial
This project will not itself operate a trial. However, all trials results with implications for service and management architecture are relevant to DIFFERENCE.
Expected Achievements
Some results to-date include the following:
- Established ACTS-Industry workshops (e.g. Distributed Object Technology Workshop.)
- Closer industry-ACTS dialogue via IS&N Industrial Showcase initiative.
- Snapshot and characterisation of selected architectures (Deliverables 2, 4).
- SIA & NIM guideline awareness creation within industry groups, including various posters, papers and presentations.
- Facilitation of a MoU between the Network Management forum and the NIM Chain.
- Discussion papers on selected themes with views towards convergence. Expected Impact
Closer co-operation and deeper understanding between the different fora (including ACTS), leading to greater cohesion in technical areas of service and network management architecture which should ensure that ACTS results in this area will be more relevant to industry.
Main contributions to the programme objectives:
Main deliverables
Facilitate the closer co-operation and deeper understanding between different technical areas of service and network management architecture.
Contribution to the programme
Ensures that the results of the relevant ACTS projects are more appropriate to industry usage. Exploits synergies between ACTS projects and industrial fora.
Key Issues Key issues of concern are as follows:
- the identification of and "plugging-in" to architecture related work in ACTS and industry.
- the identification of RTD areas of mutual interest to ACTS and the relevant industry fora.
- the development of unmediated mechanisms for sustained interaction between relevant ACTS related concertation initiatives and industry.
- the capture and development of synergies and relationships between elements of architecture.
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CON - Coordination of research actionsCoordinator
SE22 8DJ London
United Kingdom