Get specific with SLAs

Providers are now eager to offer you, the IT manager, a laundry list of service level agreements (SLA) to entice you to sign on the dotted line. There's availability, delay, throughput, mean time to repair (MTTR) and so on, all with very impressive numbers and perhaps nonperformance penalties.

So what does each mean? That depends on the service provider we're talking about and the customer doing the negotiating. First, not all SLAs are created equal; not every provider defines and measures the same parameters in the same manner. Second, SLAs can differ among customers, depending on what each has negotiated into the contract.

You should take great care during the negotiation process to understand the details of the contract. For availability agreements, understand what components are included and excluded. When determining latency specifics, find out if the potential delay is appropriate for the application type. Does it include access, CPE or switch-to-switch only? When agreeing on throughput, know if it's a percentage of CIR-delivered frames, burst or both.

Read the fine print, and negotiate SLAs that deliver the application performance your end users require. And do the calculations to put things into perspective. How many hours can the network be down per month and still fall within the SLA? Will your SNA sessions timeout with the possible delays?

In the end, it's not about the dollars you get back for your provider's nonperformance. That'll never cover the time and money your company will lose if the network isn't performing as desired.

TeleChoice is one of the leading telecommunications consultancies worldwide for the design, development, implementation, and migration of new and leading edge telecommunications hardware, software and services. Our focus is on public networking and value-added services for the telecommunications industry. You can contact TeleChoice at its corporate headquarters at (973) 239-0700 or visit our Web site for more information.

SLA resources
Links to additional info from Network World and the Internet.

AT&T unveils new SLAs, managed firewall service
Network World, 1/26/98.

Service Level Arguments
Fred McClimans points out things you should scrutinize before agreeing to an SLA with your carrier. Network World, 9/15/97.

The devil's in the details when comparing service-level agreements
Briere and Heckart explain more things to watch out for. Network World, 9/8/97.

Network Performance Management Issues and Strategies
A white paper from INS Network Consulting.

Frame Relay Circuit Management - the Next Generation
In this paper, ADC Kentrox explains the principals behind frame relay management.

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