Network Provisioning Using Multimedia Aggregates

Multimedia traffic makes network provisioning a key issue. Optimal provisioning of network resources is crucial for reducing the service cost of multimedia transmission. Multimedia traffic requires not only provisioning bandwidth and buffer resources in the network but also guaranteeing a given maximum end-to-end delay. In this paper we present methods and tools for the optimal dimensioning of networks based on multimedia aggregates. The proposed method minimises the network resources reservations of traffic aggregates providing a bounded delay. The paper also introduces several methods to generate multimedia traffic aggregation using real video traces. The method is evaluated using a network topology based on the European GEANT network. The results of these simulations allow us to discover the relationship between a required delay and the necessary bandwidth reservation (or the achievable utilisation limit). An interesting conclusion of these scenarios is that, following several recommendations, the network utilisation can reach values of around 80% or higher. Copyright (C) 2007 E. Hernandez-Oralloand J. Vila-Carbo. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.