Buzz Issue: The buzz brothers, SLAs, 09/11/00

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

buzz brothers

Network World columnists and newsletter authors share soulful opinions on some of the network topics topping the charts.

Network World, 09/11/00

SLAs

Let's move on to extended SLAs. This year we've seen announcements from new companies SmartPipes and Core Express aiming to provide SLAs across multiple ISP nets. Sounds good, but will it work?

McClimans: The real trend here is being able to extend the SLA but then change the SLA and the level of services and service guarantees on a fluid basis across multiple networks. That really speaks to the whole personalization of the network that a lot of the enterprises that I've spoken to are really looking for.

I don't think there's anybody there yet in terms of being able to deliver the end-to-end package with the ability to provision on demand. Will there be within the next quarter, by the end of the year? I think that's certainly possible in limited areas. What you're really talking about is multiple service providers having to group together and buy into these concepts. They have to recognize that sometimes they have to sign up and say: 'Yes, we're going to find ways to provide bandwidth at guaranteed levels when it's not available within our internal network in order to be able to guarantee this particular service capability.'

Taylor: So long as it's a well-defined group of ISPs, it's very reasonable to have an extended SLA, because each of these individual ISPs can do appropriate traffic engineering to make sure that happens. However, when you extend it to give a service-level guarantee over the 'Big I' Internet, there's really no control within the Internet and it's really tough to guarantee something you can't control.

McClimans: I think that is clearly the trend toward being able to deliver end-to-end SLAs through multiple ISPs through multiple portions of the 'Big I' Internet, and being able to offer those on a flexible, fast-provisioning basis.

Kearns: That's the Holy Grail.

Taylor: Unless we have enough bandwidth that will work, because then we won't have to worry about whether there is enough bandwidth - but I'm not sure we're there yet!

McClimans: Oh, we need optical for that!

Convergence

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