* Do be sure that SLA credits aren't deducted from the calculation of your attainment of minimum annual commitments, and that you don't have to "repay" them in the event of termination.
* Do negotiate provisions requiring the carrier to provide the reports and data you need to track SLA compliance, and do make the carrier a part of the SLA validation process.
Private vs. Internet
We're sometimes asked if there's a difference between negotiating SLAs for private network services (for example, frame relay, ATM, and their IP-enabled counterparts) and Internet-based services. The short answer is, it depends. For dedicated Internet access, the customer is basically buying a gateway to the Internet and its associated access. Up until the data gets to the Internet, the customer should expect reliable performance and be able to negotiate meaningful availability and MTTR SLAs, just as it would for any data service.
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