This feature deficiency is
depicted in Figure 2.19 as well, the most important being the lack of service-level agreement
(SLA) monitoring and, more generally, OAM capabilities.
SLA Monitoring As SMEs are considering Carrier Ethernet as the convergent access,
and hence relying on it for their mission-critical applications as well (storage
backup, voice, etc.), it is imperative that SME customers have the assurance that the
underlying Carrier Ethernet services are performing according to stringent SLA requirements.
With private line and other technologies, they have that capability; with
Carrier Ethernet, the absence of such SLA measurement capabilities precludes its
adoption.
Lack of OAMs As Service Providers are required to deliver Carrier Ethernet to a substantially
greater number of individual customers (the SMEs), they have to make it an economically
viable offering with adequate profitability margins. In order to provide Carrier
Ethernet to a mass market, the capital expenditures (CAPEX) and, more importantly,
their operational expenditures23 (OPEX) need to be addressed. A significant contributor
22 As will be evident in Part II, numerous Ethernet solutions do offer most of the Carrier-class attributes.
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