Importance

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Abstract

A network includes an operations support system (20) for managing one or more network elements (40), and an interface (10) between the operations support system (20) and each network element (40). The interface (10) includes a network element side mediator object (14) and a corresponding operations support side proxy mediator object (14p). During initialization of the interface (10), method calls from the proxy mediator object (14p) to the mediator object (14) are employed by the operations support system (20) to obtain a list of data tables supported by the network element (40). The interface (10) also includes a network element side interface object (12) and a corresponding operations support system side proxy interface object (12p). In this case, during initialization of the interface (10), method calls from the proxy interface object (12p) to the interface object (12) are employed by the operations support system (20) to obtain a list of attributes for each data table listed. Preferably, the data tables passed across the interface (10) are carried in one of a finite number of distinct well defined containers, each container carrying data tables having a set of common characteristics. In this manner, a standarized extensible interface (10) is achieved.

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