scope:

The present document addresses the requirements of network, and service providers of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cross connected networks for establishing, maintaining and releasing Virtual Path (VP) Virtual Channel (VC) connections, which span several administrative ATM domains. These requirements are satisfied by the use of a standardized interface (the "X-interface") between Operation Systems (OSs) belonging to different network operators. The present document contains a general overview describing the different management areas that will be covered in the different X-interface ENs - configuration, fault and performance - as well as the relationships between them. The present document describes the configuration management area covering the following aspects: - a management architecture that shows how the X-interface is to be used between service or network providers; - the management services and functions needed to manage ATM connections, which span several administrative domains. These management services and functions cover the requirements for the X-interface;- the management information crossing the X-interface. This management information specification uses the Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects (GDMO) formalism, described in ITU-T Recommendation X.722 [6].