Finally, if the provider insists on an exception for emergency maintenance, limit it to proactive maintenance, where the carrier is attempting to prevent a more serious problem though some kind of intervention, such as installing a patch.
SEEING THE FOREST AND THE TREES
Service element-specific SLAs are adequate for standalone service connections such as private lines and dedicated access for voice services. However, SLAs for WAN services need performance standards at both the individual connection level and the network level.
Connection-specific and aggregate measures each have strengths and weaknesses. Neither approach alone gives a complete sense of the carrier's performance or its ability to address systemic problems. Aggregate WAN performance metrics (for example, all of the Multiprotocol Label Switching [MPLS] connections in the WAN) may "hide" problems with individual components, but they provide a useful gauge of overall performance. Connection-specific measures allow for identification of trouble spots, but seldom provide meaningful remedies.
Increasingly, carriers are offering availability metrics for individual service connections. Although this is a big step forward in helping customers evaluate the operation of individual connections, it isn't an entirely altruistic move. The change from overall availability measures has been accompanied by diminished credits, decreased proactive reporting, and reduced emphasis on overall performance. Individual connection specifications are also often substantially lower in terms of performance than aggregate measures. For core data services, customers should still seek performance metrics at both the individual and aggregate levels.
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