[e2e] admission control vs congestion control

[Fred Baker]

On Apr 21, 2006, at 3:23 PM, Detlef Bosau wrote:
> However, for the general Internet, when I see RSVP and QoS and all  
> these things, it´s not only that these apply TDM techniques to the  
> Internet. It´s the question how "telco like" the Internet shall be?
>
> The more QoS we bring to the Internet the more "telco like" the  
> Internet will become - and the more expensive.

I'm not so convinced.

First, if you're worried about being Telco-like, don't talk to me  
about a protocol that asks whether there is enough bandwidth  
available to do the job. Talk to me about the NGN initiative and the  
deployment of IMS to manage ISPs. There is a *lot* that is happening  
in the exact direction you are pointing.

Second, face facts. The Internet is in fact in the process of  
becoming the underlying substrate for a variety of communication  
technologies. We call this "convergence", and where five years ago it  
might have been a marketing story, it is today a reality - whether  
that is pleasant or not. It takes less bits per second to deliver  
voice using TDM than through the Internet from a cost/bit  
perspective, but that requires one to have two services at the house  
or office, or in the ISP. If one is sufficient... the sense at the  
moment is that one is indeed sufficient, hence the entire NGN  
initiative.

The underlying economics of things suggest that we will indeed run  
voice and video on IP, the only question is when and how. Look at the  
names of the larger companies that deliver internet services: of the  
so-called Tier 1 and Tier 2 players, how many do NOT use the word  
"telecom" in some language somewhere in their name, and of those that  
don't, how many are not in fact telcos? And look at the services we  
are being asked for. Precedence in calling, preemption of calls,  
Lawful Intercept ...

I realize that this is not the dream we had 20 years ago. Oh, yes, I  
realize that. On alternate Tuesdays, I have to at least nod at the  
existence of the real world... Basically, the question is not whether  
you would like the companies to be telcos. The question is how to  
offer the services that people are in fact demanding that the  
Internet provide to them.

And BTW, RSVP is not the same as "being a telco". Since it only has  
to be implemented at bottlenecks, it becomes a way of applying policy  
at interconnect points in the cloud and allowing the cloud to do its  
thing where it is capable of doing so. That is *hugely* different  
than installing and tearing down circuits.