An ideal performance management solution must be platform independent and extensible as well as able to provide integrated, total network coverage. The ideal solution must allow service providers to monitor ongoing physical network performance, analyze its data to correlate end-to-end service performance, and finally, to take action based on a complete understanding of network behavior, as shown in Figure 1. To ensure that customers are getting what they pay for, service providers must employ service level agreements (SLAs). With SLAs, service providers understand what their customers expect, and, by means of a customer-oriented tracking system, can effectively prove performance. Service providers who succeed will be those who deploy services that consistently perform at high levels and who communicate that performance to their customers.

Figure 1. An Integrated Network and Service Performance Management Solution

\ Complete performance management must drill down through each layer of network technology. With an integrated view of deployed technology, service providers will be able to recognize the impact of performance management on their customers. With performance management, customers will be able to understand how their service is operating, while service providers will be able to improve network infrastructure–upgrade planning to better accommodate their customer's evolving needs.

Without this kind of solution, service providers cannot effectively prove that they honor their SLAs—an inability that may provoke some customers to switch service providers.