A number of models exist for connection establishment, ranging from traditional control plane solutions based on signalling procedures to connection management architectures based on distributed computing technologies. This paper concentrates on those approaches relevant to the establishment of semi-permanent connections through the activity of the management plane; concentrating, in particular, on the issues related to inter-domain connections requiring federation between connection management systems.

Three approaches are analysed and compared in this paper: the TMN approach, based on the X-user and X-coop interfaces, using OSI systems management as the underlying technology; the TINA approach, using the ConS and LNFed reference points, with CORBA as the base technology for the computing architecture; and an approach based on intelligent agents and mobile code using OMG’s MAF as the enabling technology. The three approaches are compared from the points of view of architecture and technology considering the issues of system design, migration and interworking.

Several possibilities for the future integration and/or interworking between systems based on the three approaches are proposed, including: enhancements to TMN and TINA architectures to make them agent-friendly; the use of agent technologies to implement TMN or TINA compliant building blocks; the use of agents to enable interworking between diverse technologies and architectures. The outstanding issues are raised which highlight the areas of future work which are expected to be carried out by a number of research projects which have recently been awarded.