Applying QoS control through integration of IP and ATM

The article describes the application of the integrated services concept where IP is using ATM as the transport layer for providing QoS control. Integrated services technologies based on IPv6 have been developed and implemented in a pan-European field trial where students are evaluating distance learning applications with QoS control. An overview of the architecture is given, followed by a description of the features of the basic technologies. The background for selecting the technologies is described. The focus is on the access network domain, and the objective is to reduce the resources required and be able to offer a range of premium services. The work of extending user applications for distance learning with QoS is described. The technical performance and user perception of QoS control were tested and evaluated in the trials. The main conclusions and recommendations are discussed. The integrated services concept is recommended for use in the access network. It was found that QoS control of end-user applications is of benefit for distance learning. However, the design of the user interface should hide all network-relevant parameters from the end user. There is a need for standard software to support integrated services.