Quality of service in broadband communications

Quality of service is a broad ranging topic touching on many aspects of the construction, management and use of telecommunications networks. A study of the standards scene concluded that there is no specific methodology leading to specification of QOS parameters, available from the standards bodies. This emphasises the need to develop a suitable methodology for the specification of QOS parameters for the IBC system. The use of existing QOS parameter standards in the context of IBC may need to be very carefully analysed. For example the use of existing telephone quality standards, developed in an environment of circuit switched analogue networks, for use in an ATM based multi-service, multi-vendor IBC, may impose unnecessary restrictions on the development of the network infrastructure, requiring much more sophisticated techniques and standards. The paper is based on the work of the NETMAN Project which is part of the RACE program