Quantifying the value proposition of advanced fault management systems in MPLS core networks

This paper delineates and quantifies the benefits of advanced fault management systems (FMSs) in multiservice, converged Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) core networks. MPLS is a relatively new technology, where fault management is still on a steep learning curve for both infrastructure and services. The FMS value proposition is quantified for a particular system, Lucent Technologies' Navis (R) Network Fault Manager (NFM), with a comprehensive network-level cost/savings model. This new, bottoms-up approach integrates a detailed single facility failure model (analyzing impacts of network failure alarms and estimating reduction in time-to-repair and time-to-restore when advanced alarm filtering and correlation rules are applied) with an overall network reliability model and then calculates the total cost of ownership and operational savings. Results of this analysis show that an advanced FMS is advantageous to any network, but, in particular, to converged MPLS networks where the multiple protocols required for the multiple applications create complexities in fault management. (c) 2005 Lucent Technologies Inc.