IRU Contracts?

Mon Dec 1 04:34:34 UTC 2003

I am assuming this is on-topic, though the responses may not be. If there is
interest, I will be glad to summarize the answers for the list.

I have been testing a few aspects of the market for DF, and I am assuming
that for those that are capable of paying for it (DF) to guys who can
provide contracts that are enforceable beyond 90 days after signing, a lot
more complexity can be cooked into agreements today (2003) than before
(1999) -- moreover, a lot more is known about what can go wrong with IRUs
now than when they were first being bought. However, I am not seeing a lot
of the agreements themselves changing... So I was wondering... For my
purposes, I am considering hundreds and thousands of thread-miles, but I am
sure even for small intracity  spans, some of these things matter.

What terms do particular companies or does the community in general think
need to be included above and beyond the standard IRU language most vendors
are providing? Does anyone insist on fiber performance (beyond dB loss) for
the entire life of the contract (if so, what other measures),
maintenance/repair SLAs, mass-fusion performance on splices? Does anyone
require lambda testing outside of 1550nm? Does anyone accept the payment
terms proposed or do they take what they can get depending on the provider?

I am guessing only about 3 people are going to want to hear the results of
this, so private email responses may be best.

Thanks in advance,

DJ