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Distributed Systems,” the stated conclusion supports a goal of promoting real-time end-to-end monitoring “while ensuring that the measurement overhead is only a small fraction of free node and network resources.” Thus, the monitoring solutions do not become so bulky as to defeat the purpose of network optimization through monitoring.

A little automation to help with the cleanup.

When the network is thoroughly monitored and any faults can be identified and isolated, there comes the need for correction of these faults in a timely manner. The traditional method for identifying and zapping the problem involved lots of grunt work and, in many cases, truck rolls that were not necessary in the long run. Fortunately, drill down capability has developed to the point where problems can be more thoroughly isolated and, as a result, more painlessly eliminated.

As with so many facets of telecom, automation is making the task of discovering, diagnosing, and repairing a fault considerably easier by removing that pesky little aspect known as “human error” or, for that matter, any sort of human interaction at all. We now have the prospect of networks that are, in effect, self-healing. For more details on the once and future prospects of that compelling and exciting area of network management, take a look at the other articles in this month's issue of Pipeline.

In the end, it all comes down to proactivity. In the quest for the proverbial ounce of prevention, you may discover that the additional costs are well worth it. After all, in an era where there are steady threats from other carriers across the entire spectrum of access technologies, one can afford as few errors as possible.