AT&T Co’s AT&T Network Systems has won a contract from France Telecom for its Network Traffic Management Operations System. Telecom is using the system to manage its international network management centre in Bagnolet, near Paris, and the deal marks the first time that the system is to manage a public network outside the US. It will manage the speech, data and signalling traffic on the public network, pinpointing areas of network congestion or failure and presenting the results to the network traffic manager in colour graphic displays. As well as identifying network overloads, the system re-routes traffic away from network failures, enabling, says AT&T, more calls to be completed. It can also be used to help plan the network. The system is currently deployed in the US by Nynex Corp, US West Inc and Ameritech Inc. Known in Europe as Netminder, the system is based on a Unix host processor, a Sparcstation, multitasking terminals with graphics, a Datakit II Virtual Circuit Switch and colour video projectors.
