SNMP is great for integrating classic telecom telemetry with modern IP-based network management, because it's an open-standard protocol that's flexible enough to describe almost anything.
The one hitch is, some of your most crucial network infrastructure is not built for SNMP. To integrate your infrastructure elements into your SNMP alarm management system, you need to install SNMP proxy devices at your remote sites.
A proxy device is a smart RTU that combines the functions of alarm collection and protocol conversion. It accepts standard telemetry alarm inputs like contact closures and analog signals and encodes the data in an SNMP trap.
It is absolutely essential to have visibility of these critical network elements. If any one of them fails, it can bring your whole network down.