Dynamic graph-based structure for representing a communications network

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a provider-specific data source, data associated with a network entity in a telecommunications network, the received data having one or more data attribute values, wherein the telecommunications network is represented by a network graph having a plurality of vertices and a plurality of edges, each vertex associated with a corresponding network entity having a respective entity type;

associating the received data with a first vertex in the network graph;

retrieving a linking rule from a provider-specific customization document, the linking rule specifying a relationship between a data attribute of a first entity type and a data attribute of a second entity type;

updating, based on the linking rule, the plurality of edges in the network graph connected to the first vertex;

identifying a walk associated with the first vertex, the walk having a walk definition that specifies an entity type of a starting vertex within the network graph; and

dynamically executing, the walk from an intermediate starting vertex to generate one or more output entities.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the plurality of edges farther comprises:

removing a first edge connected to the first vertex from the plurality of edges based on the linking rule; and

adding a second edge connected to the first vertex to the plurality of edges based on the linking rule.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying a walk associated with the first vertex further comprises:

determining whether the first vertex is part of a previously executed walk; and

determining whether the removed first edge or the added second edge is part of the previously executed walk.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein dynamically executing the walk further comprises:

setting the intermediate starting vertex to the first vertex;

loading a previous intermediate state of the walk at the intermediate starting vertex; and

executing, using the previous intermediate state, the walk from the intermediate starting vertex to generate one or more output entities.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein executing the walk using the previous intermediate state further comprises:

retrieving, from a walk customization document, a list of edge types to traverse from the intermediate starting vertex;

identifying edges connected to the intermediate starting vertex and having an edge type in the list of edge types;

transmitting a message from the intermediate starting vertex across the identified edges, wherein the message is received by destination vertices connected to the identified edges; and

repeating the retrieving, the identifying edges, and the transmitting for each of the destination vertices.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

correlating each of the generated one or more output entities to a service information model that defines a plurality of base network entities used to represent an architecture of the telecommunications network.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a visualization of communications paths within the telecommunications network using the generated one or more output entities.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the plurality of vertices and the plurality of edges of the network graph in-memory across one or more distributed computing devices.

9. A system, comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to:

receive, from a provider-specific data source, data associated with a network entity in a telecommunications network, the received data having one or more data attribute values, wherein the telecommunications network is represented by a network graph having a plurality of vertices and a plurality of edges, each vertex associated with a corresponding network entity having a respective entity type;

associate the received data with a first vertex in the network graph;

retrieve a linking rule from a provider-specific customization document, the linking rule specifying a relationship between a data attribute of a first entity type and a data attribute of a second entity type;

update, based on the linking rule, the plurality of edges in the network graph connected to the first vertex;

identify a walk associated with the first vertex, the walk having a walk definition that specifies an entity type of a starting vertex within the network graph; and

dynamically execute the walk from an intermediate starting vertex to generate one or more output entities.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein to update the plurality of edges, the at least one processor is further configured to:

remove a first edge connected to the first vertex from the plurality of edges based on the linking rule; and

add a second edge connected to the first vertex to the plurality of edges based on the linking rule.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein to identify a walk associated with the first vertex, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine whether the first vertex is part of a previously executed walk; and

determine whether the removed first edge or the added second edge is part of the previously executed walk.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein to dynamically execute the walk, the at least one processor is farther configured to:

set the intermediate starting vertex to the first vertex;

load a previous intermediate state of the walk at the intermediate starting vertex; and

execute, using the previous intermediate state, the walk from the intermediate starting vertex to generate one or more output entities.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein to execute the walk using the previous intermediate state, the at least one processor is further configured to:

retrieve, from a walk customization document, a list of edge types to traverse from the intermediate starting vertex;

identify edges connected to the intermediate starting vertex and having an edge type in the list of edge types;

transmit a message from the intermediate starting vertex across the identified edges, wherein the message is received by destination vertices connected to the identified edges; and

repeat the retrieve, the identify edges, and the transmit for each of the destination vertices.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

correlate each of the generated one or more output entities to a service information model that defines a plurality of base network entities used to represent an architecture of the telecommunications network.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate a visualization of communications paths within the telecommunications network using the generated one or more output entities.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

store the plurality of vertices and the plurality of edges of the network graph in-memory across one or more distributed computing devices.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a provider-specific data source, data associated with a network entity in a telecommunications network, the received data having one or more data attribute values, wherein the telecommunications network is represented by a network graph having a plurality of vertices and a plurality of edges, each vertex associated with a corresponding network entity having a respective entity type;

associating the received data with a first vertex in the network graph;

retrieving, a linking rule from a provider-specific customization document, the linking rule specifying a relationship between a data attribute of a first entity type and a data attribute of a second entity type;

updating, based on the linking rule, the plurality of edges in the network graph connected to the first vertex;

identifying a walk associated with the first vertex, the walk having a walk definition that specifies an entity type of a starting vertex within the network graph; and

dynamically executing the walk from an intermediate starting vertex to generate one or more output entities.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein to update the plurality of edges the operations further comprise:

removing a first edge connected to the first vertex from the plurality of edges based on the linking rule; and

adding a second edge connected to the first vertex to the plurality of edges based on the linking rule.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein to identify a walk associated with the first vertex the operations further comprise:

determining whether the first vertex is part of a previously executed walk; and

determining whether the removed first edge or the added second edge is part of the previously executed walk.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein to dynamically execute the walk the operations, further comprise:

setting the intermediate starting vertex to the first vertex;

loading a previous intermediate state of the walk at the intermediate starting vertex;

executing, using the previous intermediate state, the walk from the intermediate starting vertex to generate the one or more output entities.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 20 , wherein to execute the walk using the previous intermediate state the operations further comprise:

retrieving, from a walk customization document, a list of edge types to traverse from the intermediate starting vertex;

identifying edges connected to the intermediate starting vertex and having an edge type in the list of edge types;

transmitting a message from the intermediate starting vertex across the identified edges, wherein the message is received by destination vertices connected to the identified edges; and

repeating the retrieving, the identifying edges, and the transmitting for each of the destination vertices.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:

correlating each of the generated one or more output entities to a service information model that defines a plurality of base network entities used to represent an architecture of the telecommunications network.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , the operations farther comprising:

generating a visualization of communications paths within the telecommunications network using the generated one or more output entities.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:

storing the plurality of vertices and the plurality of edges of the network graph in-memory across one or more distributed computing devices.