Home · About · A-Z Index · Search · Contacts · Press · Register · Login

What It Is - And Why You Should Join

QoS Home Page

Why I should join

Prospectus

Membership

Current Members

Mailing Lists

Past Meetings

Next Open Group Conference

On-line Forum

Registration

Call for Presentations

You are here: Quality of Service > Why Join?

What is the Main Objective of the QoS Task Program?

Guaranteeing Critical IT Services to the Customer!

Quality of Service means different things to different organizations - from providing mission critical load-balancing and fail-safe redundancy to obtaining necessary bandwidth, when you need it and for as long as you need it. Generally speaking, Quality of Service can be thought of as END-TO-END delivery of information (data, voice, video, etc.) in real-time, reliably, consistently, and securely. To The Open Group, QoS is an area where we can work with customers and vendors to help provide the steps and programs necessary to ensure the Quality of Service upon which the customer depends.

Who is the Customer With Respect to Quality of Service?

"Everyone" Is The Customer!

In the QoS arena, customer/supplier lines are fluid and the roles interchangeable. For example - is an application provider a customer or supplier?  They are both.  In provide applications to end-users, they are suppliers. In the process of delivering what the application promises, with quality of service guarantees (error free, on time, securely etc.), application providers are dependent on multiple services/providers along the way; ISPs, mobile device vendors, router vendors, server vendors, satellite equipment vendors, carrier companies, cable companies, etc.  In this process, the application supplier is, directly or indirectly, a customer to each one of those providers.Likewise for the ISP, the mobile device vendor, the router vendor, the server vendor, the satellite equipment vendor, the carrier combatant, the cable company etc.  Are they suppliers or are they customers - they are both.

Why is It Important to Get Involved?

End-to-End Quality of Service Can Make or Break an Organization!

Whether you are a consumer or a provider of: communication (video, voice, data) products and services, mission critical enterprise services, or E-business solutions, The Success of Your Business Depends on the Quality of Service that you are Guaranteed. QoS affects every company's bottom line. If you can't deliver the services you claim, you lose customers and you lose money. When a server is down, when an application is slow, or when bandwidth is not available because someone else has it, you lose money and your competition makes it.                         If you are a company that provides or consumes Internet products or relies on E-business solutions then you represent a market segment that is highly competitive, fast-paced and seriously dependent on the Internet, for their existence.  The Internet, its associated bandwidth, and services, are the lifeline for any successful business in today's market. As more and more companies depend on the Internet for their livelihood, the current best-effort delivery methods for information are no longer sufficient.  Best effort allows no priorities and no guarantees, which is why some work has already been started in the IETF and other standards organizations to evolve the 'best-effort" approach to something that does allow for guarantees and priorities. This is one aspect; there are many aspects to guaranteeing end-to-end delivery of information and services.

If you are a company that provides or depends on mission critical enterprise solutions then you care about quality of service. While some progress is being made in defining QoS standards in the Internet space, the aspects of quality of service as they relate to servers and applications in the "private" enterprise environment such as: high availability, redundancy, error recovery, high priority guaranteed communication between services and applications, are less defined, and less common, resulting in a multitude of proprietary and one-off solutions that are incompatible.

If you are a company that provides or consumes communication services (voice, video, data), then you represent a market segment that is dependent on Quality of Service guarantees in the products, services, and solutions that are available.  To participate effectively in this space organizations must be willing to increase their awareness and work toward interoperability and the propagation of end-to-end service levels.

Successful businesses and successful customer organizations need to be aware of the QoS standards and policies, as well as the practices, procedures and billing models that will ultimately be associated with them. In order to remain successful you must be willing to take a pro-active role in defining, and ultimately supplying and demanding guarantees for quality of service.QoS requirements, issues, and solutions are often specific to vertical market segments. By participating with your colleagues in the QoS Program you will be able to articulate, refine and drive your QoS requirements more effectively. A strong presence will result in a greater awareness of, and influence over, which of your business requirements the Program focuses on and where it allocates its resources.

Why is The QoS Program an Effective Place to Address These Issues?

The End-to-End Chain is so Extensive & The Dependencies of the Components Within So Strong - That We Need to Work Together!

We have created the QoS Program in order to look at the big picture: END-TO-END Quality of Service, and to determine what pieces need more attention and what pieces are missing all together. In identifying the pieces that fit well together, we will coordinate with other standards organizations - complimenting their QoS efforts - not duplicating them. In the areas that are lacking, the QoS Program will decide where to put their efforts.It is our aim to make it easier for your company to become proactive in the definition and the delivery of End-to-End Quality of Service.  By working with you to define your QoS requirements, and your QoS priorities, we can determine what QoS issues you want driven harder and faster and then work with you to accomplish that. Collectively we will decide where our resources will have the greatest impact.

How do I Apply for Membership?

We are currently seeking Founder Members for the QoS Program.  The Founder Membership is a limited time offer.

More Details

More details are available here

For further information on the QoS Program or to take advantage of the Founder Membership offer, please contact Sally Long at +1 781 376 8211 or Birgit Hartje +1 781 376 8208