A policy-based service definition language for service management

In a competitive environment, Service Providers wish to deliver services in a lean and agile manner, despite the rising complexity and heterogeneity within the network. The desire to support personalised customer experiences and differentiated services requires that management systems are increasingly flexible, adaptable and dynamic. Policy-based Management (PBM) systems can be helpful in reducing complexity and enhancing flexibility, but they have not typically been involved in end-to-end management of the services, leading to only the partial management of different network functions. By using a policy-based service definition language, a Service Provider is able to specify the structure of services and the manner in which they are to be dynamically managed for each customer over time in response to different network events. Combined with a generic PBM system that supports different management models, policies can be used to describe all of the functional aspects of a service. As a result, Service Providers have the potential to deliver new and modified services quickly and easily, since the definitions can be altered as their needs evolve in the medium- or long-term. © 2006 IEEE