Microsoft and Vertel to develop Telecommunications Management Network software solutions.SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 1997--Global TMN (Telecommunications Management Network) A set of international standards for network management from the ITU. It is used by large carriers such as Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Summit 97--Microsoft and Vertel Detail Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) Software Development Plans at Global TMN Summit 97 Development goals include solutions for carrier grade Internet platforms and applications, integrating telecom legacy systems to TMN, and enabling network and service management access from Web-based systems. Methodology revealed in White Papers published on the Internet (www.vertel.com/wp) or (www.microsoft.com/isp/wp) Vertel, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Retix (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :RETX) and a leading supplier of Telecommunications Management Network The Telecommunications Management Network is a protocol model defined by ITU-T for managing open systems in a communications network. It is part of the ITU-T Recommendation series M.3000 and is based on the OSI management specifications in ITU-T Recommendation series X.700. (TMN) products, and Microsoft, the worldwide leader in personal computer software, detailed their plans to enable management of key Microsoft products and third-party applications running on Windows NT Server by integrating Vertel's TMN Power Cat platforms and technology. The technology and product sets will provide telecommunications industry customers with open Internet-based management solutions that build on TMN standards. The companies distributed two white papers, also available on the Internet at the Vertel and Microsoft Web sites, describing the methodology and goals of their work. As market uptake of TMN products increases rapidly, Microsoft and Vertel want to encourage industry discussion, both among industry leaders present at the Global TMN Summit and via the Internet, regarding the business and service management solutions they will be providing to the telecommunications industry. ``We realize the growing significance of TMN to the telecommunications service providers in this era of deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. and heightened competition,'' said Bill Anderson, director of marketing in Microsoft's Public Networks Group. ``Microsoft is working with Vertel to adapt our technology to those requirements,'' Anderson continued. ``We are focused on establishing TMN compliance for Microsoft Commercial Internet System, Windows NT Server, Internet Information Server See IIS. (World-Wide Web) Internet Information Server - (IIS) Microsoft's web server and FTP server for Windows NT. IIS is intended to meet the needs of a range of users: from workgroups and departments on a corporate intranet to ISPs hosting websites that receive , Microsoft BackOffice suite, DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) Formerly Network OLE, it is Microsoft's technology for distributed objects. DCOM is based on COM, Microsoft's component software architecture, which defines the object interfaces. and ActiveX. ``The TMN-WBEM and TMN-DCOM specifications, as outlined in the White Papers, will help telecommunications service providers to improve service management process flows and leverage their investment in existing network management infrastructure, through the use of Microsoft and third-party products that support these specifications.'' ``Microsoft's initiative to integrate TMN technology marks a turning point in the communications industry. Carriers will be able to provide industrial strength Internet services, accessing distributed business applications across Windows NT and other platforms managed in a TMN domain. ``The power of TMN will be harnessed via user-friendly Windows and cross-platform Internet Explorer development environments,'' said Bobby Martyna, executive vice president for Vertel. TMN Methodology Described in the White Papers Telecommunications service providers are standardizing on TMN to rapidly satisfy the demand for a large variety of new services as well as to integrate their complex networks. TMN architecture, based on a five-layer model defined by the International Telecommunications Union See ITU. (body, standard) International Telecommunications Union - (ITU) ITU-T, the telecommunication standardisation sector of ITU, is responsible for making technical recommendations about telephone and data (including fax) communications systems for PTTs and suppliers. (ITU (International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland, www.itu.ch) A telecommunications standards body that is under the auspices of the United Nations. Comprising more than 185 member countries, the ITU sets standards for global telecom networks. ), specifies the standard interaction methodology between telecommunications equipment and operations systems. Most TMN development work to date has focused on the lower three levels concerned with establishing physical links among inter-operating hardware and gathering the information needed by the upper two levels which actually provide services to users. These two upper layers, called the Service Management Layer (SML 1. SML - Standard ML. 2. SML - Small Machine Language. Barnes, ICI 1969. Real-time language, an ALGOL variant, and the predecessor of RTL. "SML User's Guide", J.G.P. Barnes, ICI, TR JGPB/69/35 (1969). ) and the Business Management Layer (BML BML Broadcast Markup Language BML Bodega Marine Laboratory (UC Davis) BML Bean Markup Language BML Business Management Layer BML Better Markup Language (server-side HTML preprocessor) BML Blue Man Library ) are the focus for the products and technologies Microsoft and Vertel will be introducing over the coming year. Additionally, there are a number of new standards bodies that are beginning to have significant influence on business-service layer integration which the Microsoft-Vertel technologies will address. These include recent activities of the Internet Engineering Task Force (c/o Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), Reston, VA, www.ietf.org) Founded in 1986, the IETF is a non-membership, open, voluntary standards organization dedicated to identifying problems and opportunities in IP data networks and proposing technical solutions to the (IETF See Internet Engineering Task Force. IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force ) and the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force, Inc., Portland, OR, www.dmtf.org) An industry consortium founded in 1992 that is involved with the development, support and maintenance of management standards for PCs. Its goal is to reduce the cost and complexity of PC management. ) with the introduction of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (standard, system management) Web-Based Enterprise Management - (WBEM) A DMTF management standard using the Common Information Model to represent systems, applications, networks, devices and other managed components; developed to unify the management of distributed computing (WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) An umbrella term for using Internet technologies to manage systems and networks throughout the enterprise. Both browsers and applications can be used to access the information that is made available in formats such as HTML and ) initiative, and the NMF NMF An abbreviation for "no meaningful figure". You'll often see this when comparing financial data among companies where a certain ratio or figure isn't applicable. Notes: For example, if company has negative earnings, it cannot have a P/E ratio. with its SPIRIT and SMART Initiatives. Web-Based Enterprise Management The WBEM effort initiated by leading companies such as BMC Software, Cisco Systems Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. proposes a set of industry standards that allow administrators to use a Web browser to manage disparate systems, networks and applications in a location independent fashion, to provide a comprehensive management view of an enterprise. While the announced intent of the WBEM effort is to enable the development of tools that reduce the complexity and costs of enterprise management, Vertel and Microsoft believe that WBEM can successfully be deployed to manage public networks as well as an enterprise. WBEM is also very much in line with Web-based tools Vertel has been developing for its Tigress Customer Network Management (CNM CNM Certified Nurse-Midwife; see nurse-midwife. CNM abbr. Certified Nurse Midwife ) platforms. The use of Web browsers will allow customers to interface with Service Providers systems in a simple, familiar and open manner. The Web-Based Enterprise Management standards are designed to work with existing management standards and protocols including CMIP (Common Management Information Protocol) Pronounced "c-mip." A network monitoring and control standard from ISO. CMOT (CMIP over TCP) is a version that runs on TCP/IP networks, and CMOL (CMIP over LLC) runs on IEEE 802 LANs (Ethernet, Token Ring, etc.). , TMN and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Data are passed from SNMP agents, which are hardware and/or software processes reporting activity in each network device (hub, router, bridge, etc. . Service Management Layer At the Service Management Layer, customers gain access to certain network management activities -- a process known as Customer Network Management (CNM). CNM enhances the customer's ability to tailor the network's characteristics to their needs by the selection of applications such as trouble reporting, performance monitoring, access ordering (for example, new circuits) and service provisioning (for example, video conference set up). WBEM is ideal for service management applications, particularly for CNM applications which run at the end-users' premises. At the SML the emphasis starts to shift from reliability and scalability of the network management system -- all strong points of TMN -- to the presentation of the services' information to the user. Also, users change from skilled network technicians to service representatives and end-user customers. Vertel and Microsoft see TMN as assuming an ``infrastructure'' role with respect to WBEM in the same way as WBEM interacts with SNMP managed devices. Business Management Layer The Business Management Layer furnishes applications across the enterprise such as budgeting, goal setting and product planning. The tools used at this level include PC business applications suites typified by Microsoft Office. Currently data is usually imported into spreadsheets or database applications from network reports. Typically this is historical information, imported manually. The BML applications grow immensely powerful if they can be linked real time into the information flows in a TMN system. DCOM objects that translate into TMN objects offer dynamic business management layer applications to work on live data. As well, DCOM is an enabling technology that can provide TMN-Legacy OSS Oss (ôs), city (1994 pop. 62,141), North Brabant prov., S Netherlands; chartered 1399. It is a significant industrial center. Manufactures include meat products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment, and metalware. integration. A DCOM interface built on the legacy OSS allows for the protection of investment in existing telecom management tools as well as integration with other applications in the TMN environment. Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT MSFT Microsoft (stock symbol) MSFT Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) MSFT Multi-Stage Fitness Test MSFT Master of Science in Family Therapy MSFT Macalester Students for Fair Trade ) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. Vertel Except for the historical information presented, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including Vertel's timely development and success of new and enhanced products in existing and new markets, the impact of competitive products, pricing and other risks detailed from time to time in Vertel's parent company, Retix public disclosure filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Copies of Retix's most recent Forms 10K and 10Q are available upon request from the company's investor relations department. Vertel focuses on the VERtical integration of TELecommunications software for specific TMN users. The company provides advanced telecommunications management solutions including communications infrastructure products, network management platforms and applications software for telecommunication carrier networks worldwide. In addition, Vertel serves telecom equipment manufacturers, computer systems OEMs and Internet access providers. The company is based in Woodland Hills, Calif., with research and development facilities in Dublin, Ireland, and sales offices throughout the world. Contact Vertel on the World Wide Web at http://www.vertel.com -0- Note to Editors: Vertel is a trademark of Vertel. Retix is a registered trademark of Retix. Microsoft, Internet Explorer, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Vertel, Woodland Hills Vicki Vaughn, 818/227-1456 or PLAZApr Francine Plaza, 561/477-9762 e-mail: plaza_pr@gate.net |
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