Manu Malek - Böcker

Like the 120 volt standard for electricity, the appearance of standards in network management heralds new opportunities for creativity and achievement. As one example, within the framework of these evolving standards, consider a system of local area networks connecting computing equipment from different vendors. A bridge 1qc. k:8 up because of a transient caused by a repeater failure. The result is a massive disconnecHon of virtual circuits. What is the role of the manager and the network management system in solving the problem? How does the vendor implement the solution? How does the user use it? What measurements should be made? How should they be displayed? How much of the diagnosis and correction should be automated? How does the solution change with different hardware and software? In the IEEE Communications Magazine, I recently reported a timely illustration in the area of problems in fault management. At the workshop hotel, "I was waiting for a room assignment at the reception desk, when my attendant left the counter for a moment. Upon returning, he took one look at his screen and whined an accusatory question at everyone in sight, 'Who logged out my terminal?' Who indeed! It wasn't any of us. It was the system.

Three speakers at the Second Workshop on Network Management and Control nostalgically remembered the INTEROP Conference at which SNMP was able to interface even to CD players and toasters. We agreed this was indeed a major step forward in standards, but wondered if anyone noticed whether the toast was burned, let alone, would want to eat it. The assurance of the correct operation of practical systems under difficult environments emerged as the dominant theme of the workshop with growth, interoperability, performance, and scalability as the primary sub-themes. Perhaps this thrust is un surprising, since about half the 100 or so attendees were from industry, with a strong contingency of users. Indeed the technical program co-chairs, Shivendra Panwar of Polytechnic and Walter Johnston of NYNEX, took as their assignment the coverage of real problems and opportunities in industry. Nevertheless we take it as a real indication of progress in the field that the community is beginning to take for granted the availability of standards and even the ability to detect physical, link, and network-level faults and is now expecting diagnostics at higher levels as well as system-wide solutions.

Like the 120 volt standard for electricity, the appearance of standards in network management heralds new opportunities for creativity and achievement. As one example, within the framework of these evolving standards, consider a system of local area networks connecting computing equipment from different vendors. A bridge 1qc. k:8 up because of a transient caused by a repeater failure. The result is a massive disconnecHon of virtual circuits. What is the role of the manager and the network management system in solving the problem? How does the vendor implement the solution? How does the user use it? What measurements should be made? How should they be displayed? How much of the diagnosis and correction should be automated? How does the solution change with different hardware and software? In the IEEE Communications Magazine, I recently reported a timely illustration in the area of problems in fault management. At the workshop hotel, "I was waiting for a room assignment at the reception desk, when my attendant left the counter for a moment. Upon returning, he took one look at his screen and whined an accusatory question at everyone in sight, 'Who logged out my terminal?' Who indeed! It wasn't any of us. It was the system.

Guarding Your Business outlines the organizational elements that must be in place to protect the information and physical assets of typical businesses and organizations. The book recognizes the need for an architecture integrated within the organizational environment for systematic protection. Such an architecture is offered along with the building blocks to make organizations resistant to human error and resilient under physical attack or natural disaster. The book addresses risk assessment, determination of quality-of-service levels that balance safety versus cost, security versus privacy, determination of access rights to data and software, and a security-conscious culture in the organization. Questions answered by experts from academia and industry include: How can one organize for security? What organizational structures, policies, and procedures must be in place? What legal and privacy issues must be addressed?

Three speakers at the Second Workshop on Network Management and Control nostalgically remembered the INTEROP Conference at which SNMP was able to interface even to CD players and toasters. We agreed this was indeed a major step forward in standards, but wondered if anyone noticed whether the toast was burned, let alone, would want to eat it. The assurance of the correct operation of practical systems under difficult environments emerged as the dominant theme of the workshop with growth, interoperability, performance, and scalability as the primary sub-themes. Perhaps this thrust is un surprising, since about half the 100 or so attendees were from industry, with a strong contingency of users. Indeed the technical program co-chairs, Shivendra Panwar of Polytechnic and Walter Johnston of NYNEX, took as their assignment the coverage of real problems and opportunities in industry. Nevertheless we take it as a real indication of progress in the field that the community is beginning to take for granted the availability of standards and even the ability to detect physical, link, and network-level faults and is now expecting diagnostics at higher levels as well as system-wide solutions.