IBM 5.5 manual Introduction to Netcool/Precision TN

Chapter 1. Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of Netcool®/Precision for Transmission Networks (Netcool/Precision TN).

This chapter contains the following sections:

•"Introduction to Netcool/Precision TN" on page 1

•"How Netcool/Precision TN works" on page 2

•"Netcool/Precision TN product components" on page 6

•"Overview of the Netcool Installer" on page 8

•"New relational database" on page 10

Introduction to Netcool/Precision TN

Netcool/Precision TN enables real-time network asset management and reconciliation, regardless of the management protocols, technologies, and vendors' products used. Netcool/Precision TN:

•Collects any network data, including fault, performance, inventory, facility, and connection information.

•Provides complete asset visibility, enabling you to visualize the network in real time, including the inventory image for each device, the topology of the network, and customer circuits provisioned in the network.

•Provides the information needed to generate asset and network capacity reports to reconcile all offline OSS databases, such as inventory, provisioning, and billing.

•Provides flexible asset reporting, including standard and customizable asset reports, as well as direct access to the XML stream and the network data in the database.

•Provides a web-based GUI called Network Pilot for collecting and viewing the network data.

•Optionally integrates complete inventory, facility, and connection data with Netcool/OMNIbus alerts so that operators can locate, diagnose, and solve network problems more easily.

Telecom networks are more difficult than ever to manage; they are built on multiple technologies and managed by systems from multiple vendors. Service providers generally have multiple management systems (OSSs), each of which performs one function for one portion of their network. Each of these systems provides a limited view of a vendor-specific portion of the network.

1