QoS - Part 1B Of 10

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Here are a few words on SLA [Service Level Agreements]. In most cases they are NOT worth the paper they are written on. For example, explain the following in lay terms: When the packet/cell delivery in a 30-day continuously measured period every five minutes falls between the following thresholds, the percentage of the ATM [Asynchronous Transfer Mode] circuit MRC [Monthly Recurring Charge] shown shall be credited to the customer:

• 99.7999%-99.60% = 10% of the ATM MRC

• 99.599%-99.250% = 15% of the ATM MRC
• Less than 92.25% = 20% of the ATM MRC

This is from an actual SLA. According to the SLA, the goal is 99.8% which means 90 minutes of downtime. If the downtime is in the middle of the night who cares but if during the day, it could cause consider harm. This is not even the “small print” which is too long for this discussion.

Bottom-line: If you are concerned about the SLA, then find another carrier because you have a much greater chance of winning the lottery than getting a nickel from an SLA.

On a legal note, case law suggests that tariffs filed supersede any customer legal agreement. That means the SLA in your hand may mean absolutely nothing.

In order to understand QoS [Quality of Service]/CoS [Class of Service], here are some examples:

• Transaction class (business orders, lottery, gambling, stock trading)

• Conversational class (voice, video telephony, video gaming)
• Streaming class (multimedia, video on demand, Webcast)
• Interactive class (web browsing, network gaming, database access)
• Background class (email, SMS [Short Message Service], downloading)

In other words, use the following Top 10 to design a QoS for any of the services listed above.

This is an introduction to the planning for QoS. QoS is not a single element or single approach. This approach was developed after many months of research but does not include all the issues required. This is more of a framework to begin a dialog. That is, QoS has many hundreds of elements understanding, evaluating, and deciding what elements is the approach to this presentation.

QoS is really building a plan for QoS at all points. Think of everything in terms of QoS. We will explore the following Top 10 areas:

1. Personal Zone QoS

2. Workspace Zone QoS
3. Building Zone QoS
4. Edge Zone QoS
5. Access (ingress-egress) Zone QoS
6. Carrier Performance Zone QoS
7. Protocol Performance Zone QoS
8. Multi-Carrier Zone QoS
9. Technology Performance QoS
10. Standards QoS

Each of the QoS Zones will be discussed over the next ten weeks.

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