Network Mechanisms for Multi-service Quality Support This chapter deals with service quality support mechanisms in the network. Of particular interest are mechanisms inside an Internet Protocol domain, including edge treatment and service quality support mechanisms in the network core. Requirements for signalling between the endpoint and the network edge will be discussed in Chapter 5. The Internet today is based on the Best Effort (BE) service paradigm in which all IP traffic on a network link is treated alike, or in other words, no service quality support is provided when momentary traffic volume exceeds link capacity | 3 Network Mechanisms for Multi-service Quality Support This chapter deals with service quality support mechanisms in the network. Of particular interest are mechanisms inside an Internet Protocol domain including edge treatment and service quality support mechanisms in the network core. Requirements for signalling between the endpoint and the network edge will be discussed in Chapter 5. The Internet today is based on the Best Effort BE service paradigm in which all IP traffic on a network link is treated alike or in other words no service quality support is provided when momentary traffic volume exceeds link capacity. Subsequently to offer true multi-service support for critical traffic types such as VoIP in an IP-based network the technical tasks to be carried out by an IP service provider seem challenging at first sight. Not only must mechanisms be provided for implementing the network support for different service types but also mechanisms are needed to map service requirements onto network resources. To make best use of network resources the service mapping scheme may need to be revisited when resources or distribution of services change. The whole service quality support system should be manageable in a scalable way. Implementing Service Quality in IP Networks Vilho Raisanen 2003 John Wiley Sons Ltd ISBN 0-470-84793-X 54 NETWORK MECHANISMS FOR MULTI-SERVICE QUALITY SUPPORT It turns out that implementation of multi-service quality support in an IP domain is possible and manageable. Moreover this support can be provided with a mechanism allowing the network element in the core of the network to be kept simple. Despite technical feasibility multi-service support in IP network is not likely to be immediately adopted by all ISPs and other network operators. However the ability to provide better-than-best effort service will become an important business proposition due to the progress of content digitalization to include also non-data type services. In .
