Programming Internet quality of service

The deployment for new Internet services is limited by existing service creation platforms which can be characterized as closed, vertical and best effort in nature. We believe there is a need to develop a programmable Internet built on a foundation of open service interfaces and middleware technologies. To help speed the introduction of value-added services, we propose a unified, programmable Quality of Service (QoS) API framework based on the IEEE P1520 Reference Model fostering open, standard interfaces for networks. We argue that this is a necessary evolutionary step towards a QoS-flexible, Internet service platform. We propose the design of APIs for upper level network QoS be based on service-dependent and service-independent abstractions, supporting alternative styles of QoS specifications and provisioning. Additionally, we propose the design of low-level network element APIs be based on the notion of a building block hierarchy and the separation of service-specific and resource abstractions for the creation and deployment of network services.