XtreeMS Photo Collage

Movies I've seen in October 2009

1) Kaminey (Hindi)

2) Fashion (Hindi)

3) Oye! lucky ,Lucky Oye! (Hindi)

4) Nine - 9

5) Kanchivaram (Tamil)

6) Wake Up Sid (Hindi)

7) Kanthaswamy (Tamil)

8) Sankam (Telugu)

9) JayeeBhava (Telugu)

10) Ek Niranjan (Telugu)

My Gurus

Today I want to write about my gurus and persons who have made positive impact in my life.

Dr. K. Rammohan Reddy: He was my junior college principal. He was also my chemistry lecturer. He was great motivator of young students. His teaching style was very innovative. He is the most energetic teacher i have seen in my life so far. I still remember my last meeting with Dr. Reddy, where he asked about my future plans and wished me best of luck.

Thimma Reddy: He was my lecturer at GATE coaching center. He is also great motivator of young students. He inspired me to get in to IIT.

Dr.Timothy Gonsalves : Tag Sir was my research guide for M.S thesis at IITM. He is a great teacher and i like his teaching style. Though my interaction with him was very limited, i was inspired by his simple and disciplined life style.

Dr .Usha Rani: Usha madam was my co-guide for M.S thesis at IITM. She helped me to choose my research problem. She was always there to support and encourage my research work. I still remember her motherly love and care towards me.

Dr. Mani Subramanian: I am great admirer of Prof Mani. His discipline ,energy and dedication towards work is incredible. At this age also Dr.Mani comes to office by morning 9.00AM and stays up to evening 9.00PM. He always calls himself as a workaholic. If i ever want to become like someone, that would be Dr.Mani. I always tell my friends that I am already half Dr.Mani Subramanian because we both share same name :-). I was fortunate to work under his leadership.

Ravinder: He is my teacher, good friend and colleague. He used to give lot of suggestions during his stay at IITM.

Binu Raghavan: He is my friend and colleague. I admire his thinking. I wish i could have some percent of his thinking power. After interacting with him, my knowledge on different subjects and english communication skills are improved.


I was blessed to have these gurus to mold and inspire me to who I am today.

XPDL vs BPEL

"BPEL and XPDL are entirely different yet complimentary standards. BPEL is an "execution language" designed to provide a definition of web services orchestration, specifically the underlying sequence of interactions, the flow of data from point-to-point. For this reason, it is best suited for straight-through processing or data-flows vis-a-vis application integration. The goal of XPDL is to store and exchange the process diagram, to allow one tool to model a process diagram, and another to read the diagram and edit, another to "run" the process model on an XPDL-compliant BPM engine, and so on. For this reason, XPDL is not an executable programming language like BPEL, but specifically a process design format that literally represents the "drawing" of the process definition. To wit, it has ‘XY' or vector coordinates, including lines and points that define process flows. This allows an XPDL to store a one-to-one representation of a BPMN process diagram. For this reason, XPDL is effectively the file format or "serialization" of BPMN, as well as any non-BPMN design method or process model which use in their underlying definition the XPDL meta-model (there are presently about 50 tools which use XPDL for storing process models.)"


"XPDL is an interchange format, you can use it to exchange the business process diagrams among different tools. BPEL is an execution language of the business process and you don't use it to exchange diagrams because it cannot store graphical information about the diagram"


"BPEL is originally more an orchestration language for WebServices than a Business Process definition language. Compared to XPDL, BPEL is much more technical, much more difficult to read, much more difficult to write. BPEL is almost a scripting language that inherits from webservices problematics, XPDL is a true descriptive language dedicated to Business Processes."

"The purpose of XPDL is to capture the layout of the process and the essential information necessary to make it "run".

BPEL and XPDL are complementary. You may use XPDL to move your BPMN diagram from a drawing tool to a workflow platform, and the workflow platform might use BPEL internally to store the process for execution. BPEL is XML scripting for web services orchestration, and some tools extend this to allow for user interactions (+ BPEL4People/WS-HumanTask are intended to help there). If you want to move the diagram to another platform, you can use XPDL. BPEL doesn't store layout information by default, so a BPEL process will most likely be rendered very differently if moved from one platform to the other. XPDL is designed to preserve the layout."

Source:
http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/column2/2007/03/xpdl_and_bpel.php
http://www.bpm-research.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=827

Movies I've seen in September 2009

1. King (Telugu)

2. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (Hindi)

3. Dev D (Hindi)

4. Achamundu Achamundu (Tamil)

Keep the spark

I was clearing my inbox and i found a old forward which contains a excellent speech by Chetan Bhagat (author of popular novel Five point some One). a must read for everyone!!

--------

Inaugural Speech by Chetan Bhagat for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I’ve told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.

Disappointment’s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You.

difference between provisioning and configuration?

There is always confusion between the meanings of the words
"provisioning" and "configuration" in computer networks. Here
i am providing the basic difference between these words in
computer network domain.

What is the difference between provisioning and configuration?

A.) Provisioning operations are usually working with network and
service activities, whereas configuration operations are usually
associated with single-device (non-network view) activities.

In general, a provisioning operation should include multiple jobs
from network resource management, an external system interface,
and several device-configuration steps, whereas a configuration
operation covers single-device operational steps.

Provisioning work is usually associated with a source offering,
while configuration work is not; it can be just routine maintenance,
network expansion, or may be part of provisioning steps.

Only jeans!

Just now i realized that for past five years i am wearing only jeans. Rarely, I used other type of trousers (cottons, cargos) (< 10 times). Thanks to my company for allowing me to wear jeans every day :-).

Started wearing contacts

Today, I started using contact lenses. I just want to give a try, and see how it goes. I am using Bausch & Lomb lenses. I also got a Reebok watch from Baush & Lomb as a free gift :-).

Unfair thing about Life

“The most unfair thing about our life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus?Hell no!! I think the life cycle needs to be set all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating...


...and you finish off as an orgasm.” ---George Carlin

"Success" in Emerson's words

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded ~ Emerson

Programmer Competency Matrix

Check this Programmer Competency Matrix.
Thanks to ravinder for sharing this link.

Why i blog?

Reasons are (not in particular order):

1) to express myself
2) to improve my English writing skills
3) to document my personal experiences or share them with others
4) to share practical knowledge or skills with others
5) to entertain people (this is very difficult)
6) to store resources or information important to me

Movies I've seen in August 2009

1) Nadodigal (Tamil)

2) Oy! (Telugu)

3) Dr.Strangelove

4) Evarina Epudina (Telugu)

5) Prayanam (Telugu)

6) Love AaJ Kal

7) The Outlander

8) Ayan (Tamil)

9) The Hangover

10) V for Vendetta

11) 13B (Hindi)

12) Mr. Girisham (Telugu)

13) MaghaDheera (Telugu)

14) Vedigundu Murugesan (Tamil)

Quotes

If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor
and a positive attitude toward life, you've got everything!

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large
intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must,
I think, have great sadness on earth. -Fyodor Dostoevsky

To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance,
tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean,’says the
persevering soul, ‘at  my will mountains will crumble up.
Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard
and you will reach the goal. -- Swami Vivekananda

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes
from an indomitable will.” --Mahatma Gandhi

"Love without courage & wisdom is sentimentality, as with
the ordinary church member. Courage without love &
wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier.
Wisdom without love & courage is cowarddice, as with
the ordinary intellectual" -- Ammon Hennacy.

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay
awhile, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever
the same.

Unselfishness is God

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything
new...Albert Einstein

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory

Good bye YSR!

YSR is one of my favorite politician. I liked his confidence and style of talking and controlling things. He single-handedly won the last elections for congress. He is known as people's man. In the last five years, i heard from many people about the good things done by YSR government to the AP state. He introduced many programs for poor people and farmers. It is very sad to lose person like him. AP state and people are definitely going to miss YSR. Good bye, YSR. May your soul rest in peace.

Multi-layer networks

Multi-layer networks are computer networks where the
configuration of the network can be changed dynamically
at multiple layers. Examples of multi-layer networks include
an optical network where both the WDM, TDM (SONET/
SDH) and ethernet layers can be dynamically
reconfigured and Hybrid networks.

Loner in a crowd!

Now a days i am feeling bit low and dull :-( . Don't know the reason. I am not able to concentrate on my work (Though i have lot of interesting work). May be my personal problems are effecting my mind and work. May be i need to change my routine and add some variety to my life. I need to talk to people and take some more responsibilities at office. So that i can keep myself busy. Next couple of months are going to be tough for me. I need to be stronnnnng.

I love playing cricket!

Like most of us i love cricket. My father is great fan of cricket. Still i have memories of my childhood, where my father used to watch England world cup matches. Those matches used to come around early morning . I used to watch along with my father. My father used to bring grapes or some eatables to keep me awake. We used to have big ground beside my house. Every day some one will be playing cricket. Most of them used keep bat ,balls and wickets in my house. Like wise i grew up. I never played any other game (except for little bit of volley ball). I was good at batting, bowling and keeping. Though i never became master of any of those. Till my engineering i used to play some sort cricket almost daily. Slowly, as years passed on i almost stopped playing cricket. I played very little during BTech days. Currently, in my company every Saturday we play cricket. Normally i am very calm guy basically introvert). But when it comes to playing cricket i'll get extra energy. I'll shout, encourage players and forget about my surroundings. I love playing cricket!

How to Interview?

Today my company asked me to interview final year students of Anna university. Though i took interview for few candidates earlier, this time i need to interview nearly 20 candidates. I thought of preparing for interview ( yes, interviewers also need to prepare ;-)). But due to lack of time, i couldn't prepare. But i read few articles about "How to Interview programmers". Best article that i found was Joel Spolsky's "Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing". I liked the article and i agree with his opinions like "Interviewing is more of an art than a science" and having individual style of interviewing. I was fortunate to have Binu (my senior colleague) with me in the interview panel. I liked Binu's style of interviewing. I liked the way in which he gets into conversation with the candidate and make him feel comfortable, rather than having only Q&A type interviewing. Overall its a good experience for me. I learned some interviewing skills and interview questions ;-).

Movies I've seen in June 2009

1) LUCK BY CHANCE (Hindi)

2) Bolt

Convo photos

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/manikumar.reddy/Convo2009#

Random pics from my lazy life -2

Now you can call me IITian!

Yesterday, finally i took my MS degree at 46th IITM Convocation. I'll add some more photos next week.

ITU standards related to transport networks

Functional Elements

Modelling is the mapping of network elements onto functional elements. G.805 defines a few basic functional elements for use on the data plane.

G.805 -- Generic functional architecture of transport networks

Defines basic terminology to describe network connections. Focusses on connections rather then networks. The strength is that all definitions are technology-indepent, and has a good concept of the interaction between network layers. The drawbacks are that the descriptive text of the formal definition is terrible, and the mathematical model in the Appendix is even worse. Also the text does not give examples of real networks (probably on purpose), which makes the text hard to read. The model itself is very good, and should be (and is) the basis of most, if not all, models of connections. It is very important to note that one single element can be applied on different scales. For example, a CP (connection point) may describe either an interface on a device, or a device as a whole.

Defines connection related: Link Connection (LC), Network Connection (NC) (end-to-end), Trail, Subnetwork, Subnetwork Connection (SNC), Connection Point (CP), Termination Connection Point (TCP), Adaptation (conversion between layers), termination (adding reliability), multiplexing (channels), Tandem.

Defines network related: Layer network, subnetwork, link, access group.

Important figures: 1/G.805 defines basic building blocks. Note that circles in a Connection Point (CP) always lie strictly inside the CP-circle, while for a Subnetwork (SN), the CP always lie exactly on the SN-circle. This allows you to quickly recognize a CP from a SN. Table 1/G.805 is great to quickly get a feeling what element (AP, CP or TCP) to use in which circumstances. Figure 11/G.805 defines the concept of channels (multiplexing). Though a side-note of a picture, Figure 16/G.805 does give an example of multiplexing with a CP with two links. Simularly, figures 23 and 24/G.805 does show an example where a non-basic block is added to the picture.

I.326 -- Functional architecture of transport networks based on ATM

Describes ATM terminology (VP, VC, etc.) using G805 functional blocks. This is not very interesting unless you are familiar with ATM as defined in ITU I.311. However, appendix I defines Multipoint connections, which is an addition to G.805. Optionally, this can be used to describe networks rather then connections, although that is not intended by the authors.

Defines: Multipoint connection Point (MPCP)

Important figures: Figure A.1/I.326 shows that a TCP can contain other functional elements.
Figure I.1/I.326 defines the basic types of multipoint connections

G.809 -- Functional architecture of connectionless layer networks

Rewrite of G.805, but for connection-less instead of for connection-oriented (transport) networks. The mapping is virtually one-to-one, though in G.809, all definitions are for unidirectional datastreams, while in G.805, most definitions are bidirectional.

Defines: Access group (for connection-less layer networks), Flow (Equivalent of 805 Unidirectional connection), Flow point (Equivalant of unidirectional connection point), Flow Point Pool Link (equivalent of Link), Link Flow (Equivalent of Link Connection), Network Flow (Equivalent of Network Connection), Flow Domain (Equivalent of Subnetwork), Flow Domain Flow (Equivalent of Subnetwork connection), Termination Flow Point (Equivalent of unidirectional TCP), Connectionless Trail (Equivalent of Trail), Flow Termination (Equivalent of Trail Termination)

Important figures: 6/G.809: connection-oriented layer on top of connection-less layer and visa-versa, Table A.1/G.809: Difference in Network Characteristics between connection-oriented and connection-less networks, B.1/G.809: Mapping of terms between G.805 and G.809.

G.806 -- Characteristics of transport equipment – Description methodology and generic functionality

Partly applies G.805 elements to a specific technology: mostly SDH and SDH framing over PDH, sometimes also OTN, but never Ethernet, DWDM, etc. The whole document is rather SDH-specific. It does define a number of (generic) naming schemes for specific adaption functions, fault states, etc. The strenght is that it applies the abstract terms from G.805 to a real technology. The weakness is that it is very SDH-specific, and especially the later half the document is hard to decipher without detailed knowledge about SDH.

Defines: path (= a trail in a path layer, which is not defined), section (= a trail in a section layer, which is not defined), Trail Termination function. Alse defines detailed naming scheme for fault detection (section 5.8), signal quality, etc.

Important Figures: Table 5-1/G.806: Naming scheme of some transmission layers (very much SDH/PDH based). Figure 5-3/G.806: Symbols for Interworking on the same layer. Table 5-1/G.806: Naming scheme for Transmission layers. Section 5.8: Naming scheme for fault detection. Figure 5-4/G.806: Example usage of naming scheme.

Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON)

G.807/Y.1302 -- Requirements for automatic switched transport networks (ASTN)

G.8080/Y.1304 -- Architecture for the automatically switched optical network (ASON)

Optical Transport Networks (OTN)

G.872 -- Architecture of optical transport networks

OpticalTransportNetworks is a whole topic in itself, and is a technology aimed at DWDM, but wants to be generic enough to be used below SDH as well. SURFnet intends to use it in SURFnet6. In relation with G.805, it does further define the multi-domain aspects of the network, by defining inter- and intradomain interfaces, where a domain is an administrative domain. However, management domains defined in G.805 and G.872 are not compatible with our view. In G.805, network elements may belong to multiple management domains, and no management domain may cross the border of a administrative domain. Both statements do not hold true for our view of management domains. Administrative domains, are however compatible with our view.

Defines: OTN, Interdomain interface, Intradomain interface, path layer network, port, tandem connection, matrix connection,

G.709/Y.1331 -- Interfaces for the Optical Transport Network (OTN)

Whereas G.872 illustrates the network architecture on OTN, G.709 focuses on structure, interfaces, and mapping.

SDH

Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are TDM technologies. SDH is an ITU-T standard based on the SONET standard defined by ANSI.

G.708 -- Sub STM-0 network node interface for the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)

G.707/Y.1322 -- Network node interface for the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)

G.7041/Y.1303 -- Generic framing procedure (GFP)

G.7042/Y.1305 -- Link capacity adjustment scheme (LCAS) for virtual concatenated signals

LCAS is a method to dynamically increase or decrease the bandwidth of virtual concatenated containers

G.7043 -- Virtual concatenation of plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) signals

Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) allows the use of non-consequetive timeslots in SONET. Thus if you need 7 VC-4s for a 1 Gb/s Ethernet connection, you don't need the VC-4 to be in consequetive timeslots. For example, they can go in slots 1,4,5,11,63,12,13 rather then 8,9,10,11,12,13,14.

G.831 -- Management capabilities of transport networks based on the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)

Defines: Access Point Identifier (API)

G.803 -- Architecture of transport networks based on the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)

G.808.1 -- Generic protection switching – Linear trail and subnetwork protection

Krishna Hostel Memories

Drawings Using LG Cookie Mobile Phone

Random pics from my lazy life -1

Taxonomy of the OSS

Billing - Retail Billing Systems

Billing is the process responsible for the production of timely and accurate bills. But billing systems also process customer payments and collections, handle customer inquiries about bills, resolve billing problems, provide information about billing status, and support pre- and post-

Billing - Billing Mediation Systems

Billing mediation products assemble information from various network elements into specific records, which are then fed into retail billing systems. These are basically high-level transaction processing systems, and though this is often applied to billing, the same systems can be applied to network event management for service assurance functions. Mediation systems are fundamental to the success of retail billing systems and are often supplied in tandem.

Billing - Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management

These systems verify correct billing, or detect and identify the unauthorized use of service provider network assets. Some software products can assess subscriber activities and identify unusual patterns in the same way as credit card companies assess card-holder spending patterns.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Formerly known as "customer care" systems, CRM includes all the functions involved in acquiring and retaining customers, making it quite a broad church. CRM can cover a vast array of processes within a service provider (anything involving customer service and support, extending even into service assurance and marketing), with the central theme the management of the customer relationship.

Element/Network Management Systems (EMS/NMS)

When vendors provide equipment to service providers, they must provide some means of remotely managing that equipment once it is installed. At a minimum, equipment alarms need to be collected and cards need to be configured, so virtually every device in the public network today will intelligently communicate with what is usually a vendor-supplied UNIX-based or PC-based system. A service provider will refer to this as the vendor’s element management system (EMS).

Depending on the vendor’s choice, the EMS will communicate to a service provider’s network-wide "Network Management System (NMS)" employing various protocols and various interface standards.

Middleware

These systems are not specific to the telecom market but play an important role in managing complex OSS processes. Essential systems such as databases, messaging software, and systems management software need to be managed within a carrier's OSS environment. The software that performs this central management role, and which also manages the security of the network, is generically referred to as middleware.

Resource/Inventory Management

Resource management systems are still often known as inventory management systems, though this tends to suggest the management of a database of physical network elements. Resource management systems can track physical inventory and "logical" inventory (though not all perform both functions). By relating equipment deployment to the services being delivered by that equipment, a system can determine the network capacity being deployed and track network usage and available capacity.

Service Assurance - Fault Management

These systems collect and present alarms and events by interrogating network equipment and/or element management systems, and many allow staff to log in to specific network elements to check for additional information that might be relevant to the alarm. While there some pure fault management systems, they often perform other tasks, such as performance monitoring.

Service Assurance - Performance Monitoring

These systems measure and monitor particular technologies, applications, or functions of networks. For instance, in an IP network they might monitor latency and packet loss. There are systems designed specifically to monitor voice performance, and others for frame relay, ATM, and so on. There are also OSSs specific to wireless networks, as they are optimized to monitor, for example, the quality of the air interface or the transmission path between base stations and the backbone network.

Service Assurance -Service Management

Using fault and performance information, these systems deliver a view of service performance based on the customer's view, rather than the network manager's view. This type of OSS requires new metrics to define levels of acceptable performance, and often entirely new monitoring statistics. These systems are used in conjunction with service-level agreements and provide the information to determine whether the SLA metrics have been met by the service provider.

Service Assurance - Test & Measurement

These systems are closely associated with other performance management processes but differ in that they often include the significant use of hardware that is capable of launching on-demand tests that help determine network health. Most of the leading test and measurement packages offer varying degrees of integration of the test and measurement results with either a fault management or performance management system.

Service Fulfillmint - Activation

Service fulfillment is the combination of all of the processes involved in implementing a service order and provisioning the service to customers. Activation means "turning on," or making available, a specified service. This could involve the dispatch of engineers and the installation of equipment, but assuming equipment is installed and available, a modern activation system will interface directly with element management systems or the relevant network elements. This means that, for end-to-end service requirements across a nationwide network, an activation system may need to issue commands to ATM or circuit switches to provision circuits, to Sonet terminals to allocate bandwidth, and to a wide array of access devices, such as DSLAMs, digital loop carriers (DLCs), or cable modems.

Service Fulfillment - Provisioning

Service fulfillment is the combination of all of the processes involved in implementing a service order and provisioning the service to customers. The provisioning function involves specifying the pieces of equipment and parts of the network that are needed for the service, and the allocation of bandwidth in the transport network. Provisioning is therefore closely tied with the engineering design function, and also with resource management systems. Provisioning systems will often have a workflow engine to manage both the automated processes as well as the manual processes that might be necessary when manual engineering inputs are required.

Supplier/Partner Management

In other industries, the term "supply chain" is often used to describe the relationships involved in the ordering and delivery of material goods. But services are usually not traded, so the relationships among the various parties in a telecom environment tend to be more complex. Examples of this are the management of OSS interconnection between service providers, and the management of systems interfaces between carriers and their trading partners, service resellers, and (increasingly) content partners.

Movies I've seen in June 2009

1) Peaceful Warrior

2) True Lies

3) Pasanga (Tamil)

4) Kick (Telugu)

5) It's Wonderfull life

6) Angels & Demons

7) OutPost

New Bike!

Last week i got new Yamaha Gladiator bike

Design Techniques

Some usefull java design techniques articles by Bill Venners

http://www.artima.com/designtechniques/

NGOSS Vs OSS/J

NGOSS (New Generation Operations Systems and Software):

1) The NGOSS program has focused on the business and systems aspects of OSS-solution delivery (essentially the problem and solution statement)

2) The NGOSS initiative has delivered business-process and system frameworks, methodologies, UML information models, and resources to help members in the development of NGOSS-compliant components

3) NGOSS concentrating on the technology-neutral aspects


OSS/J (OSS through Java):

1) OSS/J program has focused on the implementation and
deployment aspects (essentially the solution realization and deployment using Java technology).

2) The OSS/J initiative has delivered freely-available, testable API specifications, reference implementations, and test kits

3) OSS/J concentrating on the technology-specific aspects of network management.

4) The OSS/J initiative has delivered freely-available, testable API specifications, reference implementations, and test kits


Both programs have the ultimate goal of promoting the delivery of reusable OSS solutions to service providers. As the two programs evolved, it became clear, at a high level, that the programs were complementary: NGOSS concentrating on the technology-neutral aspects and OSS/J concentrating on the technology-specific aspects of network management. Collaboration has been demonstrated with the development of OSS/J Core Business Entities that are based on TM Forum Shared Information and Data Model entities.

Java in Telecommunications – Telemangement Forum and OSS/J

By Gero Vermaas

Source:http://blog.xebia.com/2007/04/19/java-in-telecommunications-–-telemangement-forum-and-ossj/comment-page-1/#comment-8950

As promised in the first post in this series, we'll now zoom in on the Telemanagement Forum (TMF) and OSS/J. This post will be a bit theoretical, but I promise that the next one will be more practical

Telemanagement Forum is an organization that strives to improve the interoperability in the Communication Service Provider (CSP) industry through its New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) program. Members of the TMF are not only the telco's, but also network equipment vendors and system integrators. All of them provide input to the NGOSS program

NGOSS consists of:

• Enhanced Telecom Operation Map (eTOM).
  Describes the business processes that each CSP typically has to run it's business. The processes are grouped into domains (product, customer, service, resource etc.) as illustrated in the figure on the right. When visiting a CSP you'll often see a more detailed version of this model used as wallpaper.

• Shared Information/Data Model (SID)
  Provides an information model consisting of so-called Aggregate Business Entities (ABE) and the relationships between them. The ABEs do not contain all relevant attributes, it is an abstract model. Even though it is abstract, is has proven to be very useful to ease communication and it is used as a basis for OSS/J.
  The SID model is organized in domains (eTOM domains) where the entities in a domain have a high degree of cohesion and coupling between the domains is loose.

• Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA):
  This is still under development, but the intention is that it describes the structural underpinnings and building constructs to support analysis, design, implementation and deployment of NGOSS open distributed computing solutions.

• NGOSS Compliance test
  A suite of tests to validate compliance to NGOSS standards

The idea of applying eTOM, SID and TNA of course is to create Lean Operators that can adapt quickly to new market conditions and deliver excellent value to it's customers.

Both eTOM and SID ease communication (both on a human-to-human and machine-to-machine level) by defining a common vocabulary for the CSP industry. For example, when discussing with vendors both can refer to eTOM domains or SID ABEs to specify what they search for (CSP) and what their products cover (vendor).

I've personally used to SID model to do domain modeling several times now. Initially I used to start with my own 'common sense' model, but discovered that I ended up with a model that was less flexible and less complete than the SID one. So now I always start with the SID model and check if there are aspects that can be left out or must be added to meet the business requirements.

The OSS/J APIs focus on Operations Support Systems (OSS) like Trouble Ticketing, Inventory Management and Order Management. The main goal of the OSS/J APIs is to slash the integration costs associated to the integration of Operations Support Systems. Initially the OSS/J Community was a separate organization, but since the summer of 2006 it is an integral part of the TMF. TMF stated that OSS/J is the preferred way to implement the concepts layed out in TMFs SID. Since the start of the OSS/J initiative, the Java Community Process has been used to develop the specifications.

OSS/J can be summarized as:

• Defining separate OSS/J APIs per eTOM domain, eTOM is used to group functionality into APIs. Currently there are 12 OSS/J APIs defined. Examples are Inventory Management, Order Management, Trouble Ticketing, Billing Mediation.
  One of the APIs is the Common API. This API forms the basis for the other APIs and defines the elements that are used on more than 1 API. Examples of these elements are the 'meta' operations used by clients to discover capabilities of an API implementation and the Managed Entities (see next bullet that are used by multiple APIs.
  Apart from the Common API, each API can be used independently of the other APIs, however, in some business scenarios it makes sense to use multiple APIs.

• Takes the Aggregate Business Entities from SID to define the OSS/J Managed Entities and their relationships. Examples of Managed Entities are Customer, Role, Service, OrderItem. Compared to the ABEs in SID, the Managed Entities are a more concrete representation. However, extension of these Managed Entities is typically needed when implementing an OSS/J API and there are strict guidelines (OSS/J Design Guidelines) that define how Managed Entities may be extended to guarantee interoperability.
  Integration costs are reduced because all OSS/J APIs base their Managed Entities on the SID ABEs, and the Common API defines the Managed Entities shared by multiple OSS/J APIs. As an example, a Order Management server typically needs to integrate with an Inventory Management system to query or update the inventory as orders are processed. Because they use the same (base) definitions for their Managed Entities, this integration is smooth.

• Provides 3 integration profiles:

  • EJB: Tightly coupled and bound to Java.

  • XML/JMS: Less tightly coupled, asynchronous and could be used with other languages.

  • WebServices: Loosely coupled and can be used with other languages.

    Each OSS/J APIs exposes the same functionality through the 3 integration profiles. You can pick the integration profiles that meets your requirements best.

• Defines the interaction patterns. Basically there are two main patterns:

  • Request – Response (or Exception in case of errors): synchronous (or asynchronous in case of JMS integration profile)

  • Events: Asynchronous, used to inform subscribers of actions that took place (for example: Order state changed)

In addition to these basic patterns, each OSS/J API defines how and in what sequence operations defined in the API should be used.

• For each API a fixed set of operations is defined. These operations are used to manage and query the Managed Entities used by the API. Fixed means that it is not possible to add new operations (as opposed to extending the Managed Entities which is allowed and often needed). It is possible to define so-called Named Queries such that you can define specific queries when needed. APIs typically already contain several named queries as part of the API definition.

Sounds complicated? Well to be honest, the learning curve for the first OSS/J API you work with is a bit steep. However, once you know one, the others are pretty simple and the initial efforts starts to pay off.

Demand in the marker for products that comply to the OSS/J specifications is increasing. This of course convinces vendors to make their products OSS/J compliant (see certified products) and also creates a market for companies that build adapters that can provide a OSS/J compliant interface to non-compliant products.

The next post will zoom in on the Order Management API. This is the API that is the subject of the JavaOne and TelemanagementWorld sessions in May.

Java in Telecommunications – Introduction

By Gero Vermaas

Source:http://blog.xebia.com/2007/03/30/java-in-telecommunications-introduction/

Why a blog on Java and telecommunications? There is no other industry for which the Java Community Process hosts so many specifications and I wonder if people are aware of this. Additionally, in May I'll be doing a session on both JavaOne and Telemanagement World conferences. A nice trigger for a series of blog postings that starts with an overview of where Java plays a role in the telecommunications industry and with each subsequent post zoom in on the subject of the sessions: OSS/J Order Management and SOA.

As an aside, with the convergence of TV, Internet and telephony it is better to use the term Communication Service Providers (CSP) to capture the whole domain of TV, Internet and telephony.

Java Specification Requests (JSR) for CSP industry can be grouped as follows:

• All JSRs targetted at the mobile devices (38)

• The JAIN family of JSRs (28)

• The OSS/J family of JSRs (12)

(Total number of JRSs 339, so more than 20% is related to CSPs).

Next to these specifications the CSP industry also makes heavy use of the better known parts of the Java platform like Java Standard Edition, Java Enterprise Edition, etc.

The first group of JSRs, Java on Mobile devices, is probably the best known use of Java in telecommunications industry. The enormous number of Java enabled devices consists for a large part of mobile phones and Sun will definitely highlight this again at JavaOne this year. The J2ME, MIDP, CLDC specifications are all targeted at these devices. They make it possible to create applications and games that run on many mobile devices. An example is GCalSync, which synchronizes Google Calendar with the calendar on your mobile).

Much less known is the use of Java in the core telecommunications network and in Operations Support Systems (OSS). The core telecommunications network is the network to which your (fixed or mobile) phone connects. This is the infrastructure needed to actually setup and complete a phone call from one device to another. The OSS systems are more in the IT side and take care of activating of services, billing etc. OSS systems often do not play an active role during a phone call. There is of course a connection between these the OSS systems and the core network. For example, for activating services an OSS Service Activation system will activate services on core network elements like switches.

The JAIN family of APIs is targeted at the core telecommunications network. These APIs define functionality to access core telco network protocols, do call routing, handle media and much more. Ax example of a protocol that many people might know is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). This protocol is used in many VoIP implementations and if you've played with VoIP on your computer you probably had to configure SIP Proxies etc. Within the JAIN domain there is even a special kind of application server, the JAIN Service Logic Execution Environment (JAIN SLEE).

Third, but not last, there is the OSS though Java (OSS/J) family of APIs. This family of APIs is targeted at the so called Operations Support Systems that all CSPs have to run their business. The Operation Support Systems cover functionality like activating services on the network, inventory management, fault management, trouble ticketing, order management and billing. One of te main goals of the OSS/J APIs is to slash the integration costs of OSS systems.

So much for the introduction, in the next post I will zoom in on parts of the work done by TeleManagement Forum and the basic ideas behind OSS/J.

Quotes from movie "Peacefull Warrior"

Socrates: Everything has a purpose, even this, and it's up to you to find it.

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Socrates: A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does

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Socrates: I call myself a Peaceful Warrior... because the battles we fight are on the inside

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Socrates: This moment is the only thing that matters.

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Socrates: Where are you?
Dan Millman: Here.
Socrates: What time is it?
Dan Millman: Now.
Socrates: What are you?
Dan Millman: This moment.

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Joy: [to Dan, touching his chest] I don't think your leg was the only thing that got broken.

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Dan Millman: The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination

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Dan Millman: The ones who are hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most.

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Socrates: Those who are the hardest to love, need it the most

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Socrates: There is only the journey

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Socrates: A warrior is not about perfection or victory or invulnerability. He's about absolute vulnerability.

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Socrates: There is no starting or stopping - only doing.

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Dan Millman: There are no ordinary moments.

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Socrates: It's the journey, not the destination.

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Socrates: There's no greater purpose than service to others.

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Socrates: Everyone wants to tell you what to do and what's good for you. They don't want you to find your own answers, they want you to believe theirs.
Dan Millman: Let me guess, and you want me to believe yours.
Socrates: No, I want you to stop gathering information from the outside and start gathering it from the inside.

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Socrates: People are not theirs thoughts, they think they are, and it brings them all kinds of sadness.

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Dan Millman: Life has just three rules?
Socrates: And you already know them...
Dan Millman: Paradox, humour, and change.
Socrates: Paradox...
Dan Millman: Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out.
Socrates: Humour...
Dan Millman: Keep a sense of humour, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.
Socrates: Change...
Dan Millman: Know that nothing stays the same.

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Dan Millman: I took for granted what I could do. I was sloppy with my life; I'm scared but I feel like I got rid of all the old stuff and it was the right thing to do.

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Socrates: Death isn't sad. The sad thing is: most people don't live at all.

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Socrates: Sometimes you have to lose your mind before you come to your senses.

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Socrates: Do you know what's the difference between me and you?
Socrates: You practice gymnastics, I practice everything!