MaxView Service Creation Framework

The key to getting the most from all the assets within your network is the expertise and experience of the people who manage the network - network operators and engineers. Because they are consistently driving innovation, network operators and engineers need a powerful suite of tools that enable full control over the network. With MaxView, your people have the industry’s most comprehensive solution for network management of government and commercial media networks. To provide total control, MaxView features a Service Creation Framework with tools that give your staff drag-and-drop capability to create new services within the network. The MaxView Service Creation Framework includes a GUI Editor, Maestro Network Automation, Alarm Correlation Engine and the Driver Development Kit (DDK).

User interfaces can be customized through an easy-to-use online editing tool. Views can include logical representations of the network for service management, physical views representing the locations and rack layout of the equipment, or geographical views based on functionality at various sites.

The GUI Editor makes it easy to change the display, including adding devices, changing device icons and grouping devices into the system. After a device is set up, it automatically appears in the physical tree. Within the GUI editor an authorized user can simply drag and drop the device onto a network diagram panel. Any device may be inserted into any number of panels.

The GUI Editor’s common drawing tools and pre-built device icons make it easy to customize network diagrams to set up an efficient management system. Use editor mode to set up directories, add/delete devices and create diagrams for the network. Access is password controlled. The editor provides a library of pre-built stock symbols, used to represent common block diagram components such as baseball switches and amplifiers as well as passive, non-active devices such as splitters, couplers and feeds.

The Maestro Network Automation module adds automation and service management functionality to the MaxView network management system. It extends MaxView with customizable automation capability for the network management system and enables the system to automatically respond to defined network events and/or notify key personnel, including:

Using the Alarm Correlation Engine, operators can filter alarms and perform root cause analysis (RCA) to reduce a group of alarms to a single root cause. The alarm correlation rules are created using a drag-and-drop editor to define the relationships between alarms and eliminate the appearance of the child alarms. Rules can be created based upon a combination of circumstances defined as a discreet event. Given that relationship, rules can be created to resolve issues based on complex circumstances. For example, the Alarm Correlation Engine can be configured to know that when A,B,C happens, an “event” has occurred (i.e., a cable has been cut) and can send one condensed alarm (“cable-cut”) to MaxView control panels for an operator to handle. Moreover, it can be configured with timing relationships so that if one alarm occurs in a defined period of time before another, the relationship indicates a root cause.

The Device Driver Kit (DDK) is an optional point-and-click graphical tool used to quickly and efficiently create MaxView device drivers. Device drivers are small software applications that convert device communications protocol into the proper format for interface to the MaxView Communications Server process. The DDK does not require the user to understand software programming or scripting. It can used to create new equipment drivers, simulate device responses and test outgoing commands.