Page 569 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

4-100 CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Second Edition

server. Service providers and clients can query these data; if necessary, they can generate their own ad
hoc reports.
Only a minimal volume of paper-based reports are targeted. These reports are in accordance with
supervising principal KPIs in SLAs. They report usually on the following metrics:
• Network availability
• Network delay
• Packet loss and
• Throughput
Each report is organized by service, by site, and by service provider.

4.5.3.3.9 Adding Criteria to Certification Criteria
In addition to the known certification criteria of service providers, the following criteria are recom-
mended for consideration:
• Checking on the ability and willingness for collaborating with other service providers
• Providing a feasible solution for the peering point
• Exchange of fault, performance, and configuration management data with other service providers
supporting a standardized format
• Protecting the peering point against noneligible access
• Supporting a clear and unified settlement strategy
• Publishing the own service classes
• Publishing all procedures for Service-Level Management
• Willingness to modify service classes
• Willingness to modify procedures for Service-Level Management
• Maintenance of management data (FM, CM, and PM) for a mutually agreed upon period of time
• Support of international standards for exchanging data
• Open mind in selecting measurement tools

4.5.3.3.10 Adding Tasks to the Overseer Duties
In addition to the known duties of the overseer, the following tasks are recommended for consideration:
• Determining the administration boundaries
• Review of additional certification criteria for service providers
• Review of results for unifying service classes
• Arbitration in case of settlement problems
• Arbitration in case of SLA disagreements
• Clarification of access rights to measurement data

4.5.3.3.11 Detailing Settlement Rules
The mutual beneficial collaboration of multiple service providers presumes usage-based accounting. In
order to support usage-based settlements, data streams have to be measured into both directions. Each peer-
ing alternative, addressed previously, offers usage data. They must be collected, formatted, and processed.
Mediation devices play a key role with settlement support. The main tasks of mediation devices include:
• Data collection
• Validation of collected data
• Corrections to data
• Filtering data
• Aggregating data
• Presentation and distribution