The standard components of a managed multiservice offering are services and management of those services (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Standard Components of a Managed Multiservice Offering

Services

Customers will want the ability to choose among several services, such as the following:

• voice services (e.g., on-net services, fax, modem)
• videoconferencing
• data services (e.g., frame relay, ATM, local-area network [LAN] interconnection, IP services, leased lines, ISDN)

These services should all be available as part of a single-customer solution—even if the customer needs only one or two at a given time. The customer needs the ability to select different service options to meet changing application needs. For successful delivery of this offering, the carrier must be able to respond quickly to customer requests.

Management of Services

In addition to having various transport options, the customer requires that the carrier manage these transport services. That responsibility includes designing, provisioning, monitoring, optimizing, and upgrading the network.

A possible scenario is that customers have chosen frame relay as one of their services and now require a carrier to manage the frame-relay network. The carrier creates the permanent virtual circuit (PVC) configurations and builds the PVCs. While monitoring the frame relay network, the carrier determines that a site is dropping packets. The carrier recommends a committed information rate (CIR) adjustment and upgrades the network as necessary. The carrier can offer different coverage options such as 7 x 24 or 8 x 5, and each service may have an SLA associated with it. Many customers need a multicarrier network but prefer a single point of contact. As part of the management of services, a carrier can act as an agent, representing the customer to other carriers.