The subject of multimedia is like the proverbial unicorn; that is, you hear a lot about it, but you hardly ever see one. The interest and relevance of multimedia to today's telecommunications network management problems is, first, that multimedia functions are not as concerned with the first 5 or 6 layers of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model as is the typical data communications system. Multimedia communications are a blend of interactive request and presentation qualities as well as transmission and/or storage qualities of the system. As a result, multimedia networks, and their coincident management, focus upon the higher layers, such as the applications layer, i.e., layer 7 of the OSI model. Second, multimedia networks lend themselves to restoration when frames of information are received in error, partly because the area of correct and incorrect responses is much less a matter of black and white than is the case with data networks. Third, multimedia networks must be made compatible with existing communications networks from an accounting traceability point of view.