As a continuation of our discussion of the need for defining “applications” and “services,” we’ll continue to try to define exactly what a “service” is.
Again, turning to our friend Ray Horak and “Webster’s New World Telecom Dictionary“, Ray defines “service” as:
“Service: From the Latin servitium, meaning slavery, referring to a person or device with the function of giving good by providing usefulness to others. A service is something done by a person or device for benefit of another. A service may be provided for a fee or for free. As I wrote Webster’s for profit, it provides a fee-based service.”
Not-So-Simple Services
Ray continues his discussion of “service,” stating, “The book is carefully researched and I stand behind every word of it, as does Wiley, the publisher. I reckon that’s worth something. Wikipedia, on the other hand, is an open source, peer-reviewed online dictionary. Anyone can contribute and just about anyone can become a peer reviewer.
“Like many of you, Wikipedia is one of the first sources I check when researching a subject. Unlike some of you, it is the last source I trust. Many Wikipedia definitions are biased, incomplete and generally incorrect. Wikipedia is, therefore, unreliable. Wikepedia offers no definition for ‘service’. How’s that for service?”
So we clearly have a need for standardizing the definition of service. But, even more than defining “service” as a generic term, we need the definition of exactly what is delivered in a service. So it’s time for Steve to get back on the “FRF.13 Soapbox.”
FRF.13 is in Steve’s opinion, one of the most important documents created in the past 20 years. As discussed in detail in an earlier newsletter, FRF.13 is most significant in that it serves as a model for what should and should not be included in the definition of a service’s SLA. In particular, it does not give values for the parameters, but it defines which parameters of the service must be defined and measured. Always excellent as a refresher.
