Resource allocation policies for aggregated QoS enabled pipes in multi-domain IP environment

Next generation Internet should offer support for end to end (E2E) multimedia services with quality of services (QoS) guarantees. In IP multi-domain environment this is still an open issue. One method to solve the E2E QoS problem in scaleable manner is to establish multi-domain end to end aggregated (in the core part of the E2E chain) paths having controlled QoS characteristics. The resources for these pipes should be allocated and installed in each domain by the domain managers. The instant of actual allocation decision in one domain may be in advance or after getting responses from the downwards domains. This paper focuses on such specific aspects, in the framework developed in the research project ENTHRONE IST-507637. It studies several allocation methods, from point of view resource utilization degree of resources versus the amount of required signalling when considering a whole chain of domains. The proposed method is currently implemented in the research project mentioned above