Carrier-Grade: Five Nines, the Myth and the Reality

- by Wedge Greene & Barbara Lancaster

What is the hard fast requirement for Carrier-Grade? Is “five-nines” available a hard, fast requirement of telecommunications or is it the telecommunications equivalent of an Urban Myth? From a common sense perspective, the meaning of availability is clear, and given the essential nature of telecommunications, the necessity of five-nines is easily understood. But when you want to measure it, and hold someone accountable for delivering that availability, you must establish an operational definition for it. Five-nines is the universal yardstick KPI for equipment reliability and network availability.

But this is only one part of many necessary quality indicators and actions. Carrier-grade is actually an intangible expectation and explicit promise that the equipment vendors will provide the best equipment possible and a clear, immediate communication of issues related to equipment. And that service providers will also provide the best network possible to their customers and keep a clear and immediate communication channel open concerning service impacting situations.

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