Management interface for programmable end-to-end ´data connectivity´ provisioning

The paper describes a management-oriented model for cost-effective ´data connectivity´ provisioning between the peer entities of a networked multimedia application. The ´connectivity´ service provider (SP) may maintain multiple protocol mechanisms to support its clientele: ranging between bandwidth-reserved paths to bandwidth-shared paths. Client applications prescribe the required QoS obligations through a service interface, with the SP instantiating one of the protocol modules with appropriate parameters to meet the QoS requirements. The model allows dynamic switching from one protocol module to another, based on a notion of cost associated with bandwidth usage by the network infrastructure for a given level of QoS offering. The management functions of SP monitor the changes and/or outages in network bandwidth in a dynamic setting, and map them into connectivity costs incurred by the selected protocol mechanism. The paper describes the signaling required between the SP and network infrastructure to install appropriate policy functions that can make the connectivity provisioning cost-optimal.