When it comes to allocating bandwidth to certain applications and users, you can't please all of the people all of the time. It might help to tell folks that they can have as much bandwidth as they want - as long as they're willing to pay for it.
KPMG Peat Marwick consultants advise policy-based network management implementers to tie bandwidth to cost through service-level agreements. "That way users will be more honest and realistic about their needs and pay attention to what they're asking for," says Pierre Champigneulle, a senior manager in Peat Marwick's IT management practice in New York. If timeliness isn't critical, a department might choose to use the cheapest source of available data, such as a local server that's only updated weekly. But a department that wants more current data might need to pay extra to access a server that resides on the other side of the Atlantic. Consultants also recommend extending the concept of giving users what they pay for to external clients. Investors anxious to keep up with the fluctuating stock market recently overwhelmed the Web sites of several financial firms. For example, it took 20 minutes to get into one investment firm's Web site and 20 minutes for each mouse click to go through, says David Vun Kannon, a senior consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick's electronic commerce practice in Chicago. Policy-based management could have helped alleviate, if not solve, the situation by automatically routing major traders to less congested network links. "If I were a big customer who had invested a lot of money through an e-commerce stock trading site, I'd expect a better level of service than Joe Schmo with a nickel-and-dime account," Vun Kannon says.RELATED LINKS
