By Johna Till Johnson, Network World, 10/10/05

With all the churn and chaos in the carrier market these days - not to mention the plethora of new technologies and services - telecom managers might wonder how to select service providers. Here are a few tried and tested recommendations:

Don't be shy about issuing a request for information (RFI). It might seem as though issuing an RFI creates extra work for your team, but it can be a critical first step. The process helps to uncover your organization's business and technical requirements, and the document provides helpful context to service providers.