The ATIS Technical Subcommittee T1M1 (Internetwork Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning) is developing a Telecommunications Markup Language (tML) standard which would govern telecommunications network management. The work being done as a T1M1 approved project #T1M1-26 in WG T1M1.5; also "BSR T1M1-26, Project Plan Proposal for Telecommunications Markup Language (tML). This ATIS [Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions] standards work was announced in May 2000, and a "tML Framework Document" released recently outlines a definition for the development of interoperable XML-based interfaces. "The goal for use of the Framework is to guide the development of tML schemas and vocabularies and to provide a common method for the definition of tML data to be exchanged and to provide a mapping to existing standards to promote re-use whenever possible. The scope of the tML Framework consists of: (1) a set of rules and objectives to be applied in developing standardized schemas based on existing models in standards; (2) specification of common tML tags, namespaces, and URIs; (3) transformation of existing definitions in external libraries for use with tML; and (4) requirements for repositories and registries."
From the May 24, 2000 announcement:
"Standards Committee T1 Technical Subcommittee T1M1 is undertaking the initiative to develop a standard for the telecommunications network management derivative of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The overall goal of this initiative is to develop a standard for transactions, which would then be presented to the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) as a contribution toward an international standard recommendation. T1M1 is a technical subcommittee of Standards Committee T1-Telecommunications, which is sponsored by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS). Committee T1 is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The telecommunications industry has not yet established an official markup language for network management, but is rapidly moving toward XML as a technology of choice - as are other industries.
"T1M1 will plan and develop a telecom-specific derivative of XML for telecommunications network management, referred to as the telecommunications Markup Language (tML). ATIS-sponsored Committee T1 intends to standardize tML via T1's open industry standards-formulation process. In an effort to ensure broad acceptance of the tML standard, Committee T1 is collaborating with ATIS' Telecommunications Industry Forum's (TCIF) Electronic Communications Implementation Committee (ECIC). ECIC has completed the Telecommunication Interchange Markup Guide -- a guide that was developed to allow carriers and vendors to exchange technical documentation using XML tags -- that is available on the Document Center at www.atis.org.
From the January 01, 2001 document "tML Framework Document":
"This is a Framework for the development of tML (telecommunications Markup Language) standards for the management of telecommunications networks. Work on this document is being advanced through interim meetings, expert meetings, and weekly meetings via phone-bridge and a Virtual Meeting facility.
"This document provides a Framework to develop such standards for schema definitions. It provides the information and structure that will maximize the opportunities and benefits that this technology can provide. This document defines guidelines for creating interrelated components of an interoperable interface such as schema definitions (when approved as a W3C Recommendation), vocabulary, and namespaces. The framework meets the following objectives: (1) Minimize the redundancy in the definition of tags; (2) Define single semantics for each tag; (3) Reuse of the semantics available in TMN information models. The term tML in the context of this standard is a markup language derived from applying XML, a meta-language used to derive other markup languages. tML receives its name from common telecommunications markup (tag names) defined in this document and from other markup defined in a variety of telecommunications standards developed from using this Framework.
