Performance means many things for ISPs

摘要

When it comes to IP network performance, service providers agree that there are three key metrics: availability, latency and packet loss. For corporate buyers, the good news is that top-tier ISPs are guaranteeing better performance on all three measurements in their service-level agreements. "We review the numbers we guarantee in our SLAs once a year to ensure that they're current," says Kevin Phillips, director of packet operations for Sprint."Take packet loss. If we've met our objectives for the whole year and it looks like we could do better ... we will pass that along to our customers in terms of more aggressive goals."