Liaison statement
LS on draft-ietf-nmop-simap-concept, “SIMAP: Concept, Requirements, and Use Cases”

1. Description

The IETF has a Working Group (WG) on Network Management OPerations (NMOP WG)
[1], which focuses on investigating issues related to the deployment and usage
of YANG topology modules to model networks and services.

Specifically, the WG is finalizing "SIMAP: Concept, Requirements, and Use
Cases" [2], which defines the concept of Service & Infrastructure Maps (SIMAP).
The SIMAP is a multi-layer data model that provides a view of the operator's
networks and services, including how it is connected to other models/data
(e.g., inventory, observability sources, and operational knowledge). The SIMAP
is applicable to multiple domains (access, core, data center, etc.) and
technologies (Optical, IP, etc.). The SIMAP specification explains its
connection to the Network Digital Twin (NDT).

The NMOP WG believes that existing data models can be leveraged in the context
of NDT beyond the IETF. Concretely, the SIMAP is a key foundation for building
the NDT, independent of the applications that will use this NDT. For example,
this effort can be leveraged for the ongoing 3GPP effort on "Management and
orchestration; Management aspects of Network Digital Twins" (TS 28.561).

We look forward to fruitful collaboration between the 3GPP and NMOP WG on these
matters. Practical actions may be shared by the NMOP WG based on the feedback
received from you to this LS.

The NMOP WG encourages the use of NMOP WG mailing list [3] as the most
effective and expedient way of exchanging information, answering questions, and
progressing any work.

OPS Area Directors: Mohamed Boucadair & Mahesh Jethanandani

NMOP Chairs: Reshad Rahman & Benoît Claise

2. Upcoming Meetings

IETF 123, 19 - 25 July 2025, Madrid, ES
IETF 124, 1-7 November, Montreal, CA

3. References

[1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/nmop/about/
[2] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-nmop-simap-concept/
[3] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/nmop