4. A system comprising: a network alarm input message processing facility including at least one hardware processor configured to: receive a network alarm message provided by a network element of a wide area network, the network alarm message being in a first message format, and map content of the network alarm message to a plurality of fields of a network universal message format based on a mapping data file associated with the first message format; a network alarm message conversion facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm input message processing facility and configured to: translate the content of the network alarm message in the first message format based on a translation rules data file associated with the first message format, and populate the plurality of fields with the translated content to generate a new network alarm message in the network universal message format; a network alarm output message processing facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm message conversion facility and configured to provide the new network alarm message in the network universal message format to a network surveillance application, wherein the network surveillance application is configured to conduct surveillance of the wide area network by interpreting the new network alarm message in the network universal message format and performing a root-cause analysis based at least in part on the interpreted new network alarm message in the network universal message format; a storage facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm input message processing facility and the network alarm message conversion facility, the storage facility configured to: store the mapping data file and the translation rules data file associated with the first message format, receive a request to add a new mapping data file and a new translation rules data file to the storage facility, the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file associated with a second message format, and add the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file to the storage facility for use in translating one or more network alarm messages from the second message format to the network universal message format, wherein the addition of the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file to the storage facility is performed without interrupting surveillance of the network.
4. A system comprising: a network alarm input message processing facility including at least one hardware processor configured to: receive a network alarm message provided by a network element of a wide area network, the network alarm message being in a first message format, and map content of the network alarm message to a plurality of fields of a network universal message format based on a mapping data file associated with the first message format; a network alarm message conversion facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm input message processing facility and configured to: translate the content of the network alarm message in the first message format based on a translation rules data file associated with the first message format, and populate the plurality of fields with the translated content to generate a new network alarm message in the network universal message format; a network alarm output message processing facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm message conversion facility and configured to provide the new network alarm message in the network universal message format to a network surveillance application, wherein the network surveillance application is configured to conduct surveillance of the wide area network by interpreting the new network alarm message in the network universal message format and performing a root-cause analysis based at least in part on the interpreted new network alarm message in the network universal message format; a storage facility communicatively coupled to the network alarm input message processing facility and the network alarm message conversion facility, the storage facility configured to: store the mapping data file and the translation rules data file associated with the first message format, receive a request to add a new mapping data file and a new translation rules data file to the storage facility, the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file associated with a second message format, and add the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file to the storage facility for use in translating one or more network alarm messages from the second message format to the network universal message format, wherein the addition of the new mapping data file and the new translation rules data file to the storage facility is performed without interrupting surveillance of the network. 9. The system of claim 4 , wherein the network universal message format specifies a plurality of fields comprising at least an alarm source field for data representing a source of an alarm, a sub-node field for data representing at least one sub-node network element affected by the alarm, and an alarm severity field for data representing a severity level of the alarm.