First steps towards the development and assessment of effective ATM charging algorithms

The ACTS project on Contract Negotiation and Charging in ATM Networks (CANCAN) is now entering its second year. This paper describes some of the activities of Work Package 2 in laying the foundation for the development of effective ATM charging schemes. Of great importance are the charging parameters which may be divided into access parameters considered at the registration of a service, and core parameters related to the use of the resources of the ATM network. The ATM charging schemes which have been reviewed include the simple three term scheme, as well as schemes based on statistical measurements, effective bandwidth and dynamic charging; an interesting opportunity is also afforded by the Envelope charging scheme which advocates ATM charging by potential use of bandwidth. In order to compare these schemes, a number of criteria has been applied to address questions such as: usage sensitivity, fairness to user and network operator, robustness, profitability and ease of auditing