ATIS - Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
Scope
Scope@ Purpose@ and Application This standard applies to Layer 1@ dedicated digital services@ which are characterized by established transmission paths (i.e.@ no access or disengagement functions). Therefore@ this standard defines performance parameters relevant to the information transfer phase only. Also@ parameters such as absolute delay -- although recognized as important to user applications -- are not specified as they are not expected@ on a connection basis@ to change significantly over time. Specific dedicated digital services are defined in separate ANSI Standards -- i.e.@ T1.102-1993 (R1999)@ T1.105-2001@ T1.107-2002@ T1.410-2001@ etc. This standard provides a list of the performance parameters and measurement methods needed by users@ vendors@ and providers of dedicated digital communications services@ to characterize the user-observable performance of these services (i.e.@ it does not address the causes of errors). It also provides a formula for arriving at the thresholds of performance that will indicate the transitions between the available and unavailable states. A given service will only reference those parameters or thresholds that are applicable to that service. The network-specific parameters are for performance allocation and network control. Standard performance parameter definitions and standard measurement methods are provided to ensure an understanding of: ?C Measured performance values; ?C Performance allocation among network elements; and ?C Compatibility of performance measurements among network users@ providers@ and equipment vendors. This document provides the framework for a companion document@ T1.510-1999@ Network performance parameters for dedicated digital services@ which contains numerical specifications and allocations for the parameters and measurements discussed in this standard. End users may use the concepts developed in this standard to measure end-user-to-end-user performance and availability.