Enterprises Turn SLA Tables on Carriers

Service providers can now be put on notice by their enterprise customers for not managing their networks appropriately, thanks to PacketDesign, which is giving businesses visibility into operators’ infrastructure.

PacketDesign’s WAN Explorer allows enterprises to monitor that all sites are connected with working pipes and addresses and that network capabilities are within stated terms of service. It looks for any addressing changes that could point to router misconfiguration. Enterprises can then take the information and ask for SLAs based on these parameters.

The vendor also provides similar products for carriers themselves. It looks like we have a little bit of a leveling of the playing field going on.