EnProtect: Enterprise-based network protection and performance improvement

We propose enProtect, a class of enterprise-based techniques that improve the reliability and performance of existing IP networks. The,techniques exploit the fact that many enterprises have dual-homed (or multi-homed) network architectures so that they don't have to rely on the "guarantees" of just a single service provider. The proposed techniques include a form of service-aware routing in which certain (e.g., VoIP) packets are duplicated at, for example, one edge router and sent over both (multiple) service providers. After traversing the service provider networks, only the first-to-arrive packets, are kept and the later-arriving copies are discarded. The packet-duplication process can be policy-based and take into account costs, bandwidth, and priority issues. For instance, if just a fraction (not all) of the VoIP packets are duplicated, then the system can behave like a simple "smart router" that automatically and continually makes us e of the best (lowest-delay) service provider.