Inter-Provider
QoS for MPLS Networks
Bruce Davie, Cisco Systems
Many service providers are building
MPLS-based, multi-service networks that are able to
meet ever more stringent Quality-of-service (QoS) requirements to support data, high quality video and real-time voice.
The advent of new end-user applications,
including VOIP and Layer 2 Virtual Private Networks (L2VPNs) also means the emergence of added service quality
requirements.
Inter-provider QoS is the capability for
networks to deliver predictable performance levels
(in terms of loss, delay, etc.) across multiple service provider domain boundaries. As VPNs are to traverse
multiple providers, it becomes a key issue to extend
these services across service provider boundaries,
while at the same time preserving the QoS assurances that are provided within a single provider's network.
Inter-provider QoS is becoming one of the key reasons
enterprise customers may wish to choose MPLS VPNs
over some other VPN technology. Service providers
are exploring ways to provide end-to-end services in order to offer global reachability to their customers.
This tutorial will present the
motivation for service providers to support QoS
across multiple provider networks, and will examine the technical challenges that must be addressed to deliver end-to-end QoS in
multi-provider environments. We will also examine a wide
range of QoS delivery mechanisms (e.g. basic DiffServ, over provisioning, MPLS traffic engineering (TE), DiffServ-aware TE, aggregate RSVP and Inter-AS
TE) and how different providers may make different
implementation choices while still delivering useful
end-to-end services.
Biography
Bruce Davie, Ph. D., has been with the IOS Technologies
Division (ITD) since joining Cisco Systems in 1995,
and was awarded recognition as a Cisco Fellow in
1998. Bruce leads an architecture group that is
currently working on the development of
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities for IP networks. His group is
responsible for ensuring that Cisco's technical
solutions are represented in the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) Standards Body. In addition, he is leading a cross-company effort to create a common QoS & MPLS
architecture across the Cisco product line.
Prior to joining Cisco, Bruce worked at Bell Communications
Research (Bellcore) and led a number of networking
research projects as director of internetworking
research and chief scientist. He has more than 15 years of networking and communications industry experience. He is also an active participant in both the Internet Engineering
Task Force and the Internet Research Task Force, and
is a senior member of the IEEE. Dr. Davie has a bachelor's degree in Engineering from