Economic FAQs About the Internet

This is a set of Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) about the economic, institutional, and technological structure of the Internet. We describe the history and current state of the Internet, discuss some of the pressing economic and regulatory problems, and speculate about future developments.Internet, telecommunications, congestion pricing, National Information Infrastructure

Center for Aeronautics and Space Information Sciences

This report summarizes the research done during 1991/92 under the Center for Aeronautics and Space Information Science (CASIS) program. The topics covered are computer architecture, networking, and neural nets

Topological Design of Multiple Virtual Private Networks UTILIZING SINK-TREE PATHS

With the deployment of MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) over a core backbone networks, it is possible for a service provider to built Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) supporting various classes of services with QoS guarantees. Efficiently mapping the logical layout of multiple VPNs over a service provider network is a challenging traffic engineering problem. The use of sink-tree (multipoint-to-point) routing paths in a MPLS network makes the VPN design problem different from traditional design approaches where a full-mesh of point-to-point paths is often the choice. The clear benefits of using sink-tree paths are the reduction in the number of label switch paths and bandwidth savings due to larger granularities of bandwidth aggregation within the network. In this thesis, the design of multiple VPNs over a MPLS-like infrastructure network, using sink-tree routing, is formulated as a mixed integer programming problem to simultaneously find a set of VPN logical topologies and their dimensions to carry multi-service, multi-hour traffic from various customers. Such a problem formulation yields a NP-hard complexity. A heuristic path selection algorithm is proposed here to scale the VPN design problem by choosing a small-but-good candidate set of feasible sink-tree paths over which the optimal routes and capacity assignments are determined. The proposed heuristic has clearly shown to speed up the optimization process and the solution can be obtained within a reasonable time for a realistic-size network. Nevertheless, when a large number of VPNs are being layout simultaneously, a standard optimization approach has a limited scalability. Here, the heuristics termed the Minimum-Capacity Sink-Tree Assignment (MCSTA) algorithm proposed to approximate the optimal bandwidth and sink-tree route assignment for multiple VPNs within a polynomial computational time. Numerical results demonstrate the MCSTA algorithm yields a good solution within a small error and sometimes yields the exact solution. Lastly, the proposed VPN design models and solution algorithms are extended for multipoint traffic demand including multipoint-to-point and broadcasting connections

Decision Support in Cooperative QoS Management

Cooperative QoS management is a new quality of service management scheme which is based on QoS agents distributed within a system and cooperating with each other to provide the QoS negotiated with users, thereby ameliorating the overail system's resource usage and decreasing the communication costs. During their operations, agents have to take decisions in order to react on QoS violations, initiate QoS renegotiation processes or react on renegotiation requests from other QoS agents. In this paper, we present two tools which support cooperating QoS agents in their decision processes: a model called Quality of Operation, based on a mathematical formula, and an approach based on a new variant of Stochastic Petri Nets, so-called Controlled Stochastic Petri Nets

Technology Directions for the 21st Century

New technologies will unleash the huge capacity of fiber-optic cable to meet growing demands for bandwidth. Companies will continue to replace private networks with public network bandwidth-on-demand. Although asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the transmission technology favored by many, its penetration will be slower than anticipated. Hybrid networks - e.g., a mix of ATM, frame relay, and fast Ethernet - may predominate, both as interim and long-term solutions, based on factors such as availability, interoperability, and cost. Telecommunications equipment and services prices will decrease further due to increased supply and more competition. Explosive Internet growth will continue, requiring additional backbone transmission capacity and enhanced protocols, but it is not clear who will fund the upgrade. Within ten years, space-based constellations of satellites in Low Earth orbit (LEO) will serve mobile users employing small, low-power terminals. 'Little LEO's' will provide packet transmission services and geo-position determination. 'Big LEO's' will function as global cellular telephone networks, with some planning to offer video and interactive multimedia services. Geosynchronous satellites also are proposed for mobile voice grade links and high-bandwidth services. NASA may benefit from resulting cost reductions in components, space hardware, launch services, and telecommunications services