NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN'S ISP NEWS REPORT 10/11/04 Today's focus: SLAs: Equant broadens its approach
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Equant refocuses its SLAs on real-world performance of key �� applications * Links related to ISP News Report * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Veritas Meta Group Whitepaper Database Infrastructure Performance Challenges: Approaches to Better Manage Application Database and Storage Subsystem Performance Corporate relational databases now manage the majority of business-critical data within the enterprise. IT organizations face continuing challenges in managing increasingly complex, data-driven application environments. Read this white paper to discover several factors which will converge to challenge the IT organization's ability to manage its database software infrastructure. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84661 _______________________________________________________________ SECURITY CONCERNS STOPPING YOUR WLAN PLANS? Is it possible to deploy a secure wireless LAN with technology available today? That question preys on the minds of IT executives who are tempted to deploy enterprise WLANs, but are hesitant because of security concerns. Find out what we uncovered when we assembled 23 wireless products trying to get to the answer. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84751 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: SLAs: Equant broadens its approach By Carolyn Duffy Marsan As part of a companywide shift towards selling complete network solutions rather than bandwidth alone, Equant is revamping its service-level agreements to focus more on the real-world performance of key applications and less on backbone statistics. Equant will continue to offer SLAs for individual network services such as IP VPN and frame relay, says Christophe Masiero, head of VPN Services at Equant. But Masiero says that in the future Equant will differentiate itself by offering broader SLAs with end-to-end guarantees and special measurements for applications such as VoIP. "The SLA is an old-fashioned way of looking at network performance because it's a stand-alone document," Masiero says. "The SLA only deals with the network part, but we are looking at the services part, too." Equant isn't the only ISP to update its SLAs to reflect changes in the corporate market for IP-based services. That's why the ISP News Report is running a series of articles on the latest developments in SLAs among top-tier service providers. Last week, we looked at recent moves by AT&T and MCI to offer more aggressive performance guarantees for IP services. This week, we'll look at SLA plans underway at Equant and Infonet. Still to come are stories about the SLAs offered by Sprint, Internap and others. To read about AT&T and MCI's SLAs, please check out the ISP News Report online archives ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/isp/index.html>). For Equant, updating its SLAs goes hand-in-hand with efforts to create hybrid products that allow corporate customers to mix and match among its network services. In 2005, Equant will unveil a hybrid VPN offering that allows a company, for example, to purchase frame relay services in the U.S. and Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) services in Europe. "What we want to offer is end-to-end SLAs for our hybrid networks," says Jerome Raynaud, IP VPN Product Manager for Equant. "We want to move from SLAs by product line to...SLAs that reflect the networks of our customers." Equant executives say that its new SLAs will offer end-to-end performance guarantees for round-trip delays, availability and jitter. These guarantees will include LAN access as well as the backbone services such as frame relay or IP VPN, Raynaud says. Equant also offers service-specific SLAs for applications such as VoIP. "When we release our new SLAs, they will be available in 142 countries," Masiero says. "It will not be a domestic [U.S.-oriented] announcement." Today, Equant like most ISPs has SLAs for each of its individual services such as frame relay and IP VPN. The company's goal for a year from now is to offer a single contract that encompasses all of its network services. "The SLA contract - you need to make it simple for the customer," Masiero says. "What we want to have is a standard framework so we can address the needs of our customers...but it's mandatory for Equant to be flexible to negotiate the SLA." To learn more about Equant's SLAs, visit: <http://www.nwfusion.com/nlisp685> Key to the success of this series on SLAs is feedback from you. What do you care about most when evaluating SLAs? Which ISP is the easiest or most difficult to negotiate with on SLAs? Whose SLAs are the simplest or most difficult to understand? Please share your SLA stories with other network executives. Send us an e-mail today at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS VPN service exploits multiple MPLS nets Network World, 10/11/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/101104virtela.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Carolyn Duffy Marsan Carolyn Duffy Marsan is a senior editor with Network World and covers emerging Internet technologies and standards. Reach her at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Veritas Meta Group Whitepaper Database Infrastructure Performance Challenges: Approaches to Better Manage Application Database and Storage Subsystem Performance Corporate relational databases now manage the majority of business-critical data within the enterprise. IT organizations face continuing challenges in managing increasingly complex, data-driven application environments. Read this white paper to discover several factors which will converge to challenge the IT organization's ability to manage its database software infrastructure. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84660 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the ISP News Report newsletter (formerly Internet Services): http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/isp/index.html _______________________________________________________________ Application Front Ends (AFEs) - the cornerstone of the new data center Learn how AFEs address application and server performance, availability, security and scalability challenges far better than traditional packet-based inspection technologies. Tune in today. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84831 _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE THE NEW DATA CENTER Today's top companies are accelerating toward Web-based computing. That means building the new data center -- where grids, virtualization, autonomic computing and other big changes shatter the traditional boundaries on applications and information, and bring the extended enterprise to life. Learn about The New Data Center on NW Fusion's Research Center at: <http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/datacenter.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. 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