The foils of Ethernet service delivery: a service provider perspective

Successful Ethernet service providers cannot be defined solely by the backbone equipment utilized nor by the number of customers or buildings they offer service to. Success is based upon the service level agreement they offer and the meeting of that agreement terms and conditions for all customers´ services. Providing a multiple of service options may not give reproducible results for all customers. Simpler services and fewer options for quality of service and class of service provide consistency across all customers and better results. The testing piece goes hand in hand with the offering of services. Simple configuration and single test sets give reproducible results that can be shared with customers and duplicated by them during their verification testing. Being able to quickly turn up customer Ethernet circuits and accurately debug and find the causes of failure or poor performance and correcting those failures or issues is another key to success. If results cannot be duplicated and issues arise the things noted in this paper should be checked and confirmed as the first steps in trouble shooting any conditions or operations.