Agent-Enhanced Dynamic Service Level Agreement in Future Network Environments

David Chieng¹, Alan Marshall¹, Ivan Ho², and Gerard Parr²

¹Advanced Telecommunication Systems Laboratory,
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Ashby Bld, Stranmillis Road,
The Queen's University of Belfast,
BT9 5AH Belfast,
Northern Ireland, UK
{d.chieng,a.marshall}@ee.qub.ac.uk

²Telecommunication and Distributed Systems Group,
School of Information and Software Engineering,
University of Ulster at Coleraine,
BT52 1SA Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK
{wk.Ho,gp.Parr}@Ulst.ac.uk

Abstract. Current network infrastructures are experiencing rapid transformation from providing mere connectivity, to a wider range of flexible network services with Quality of Service (QoS). We propose an agent-enhanced system that facilitates dynamic Service Level Agreement (SLA) activities, such as end-to-end QoS specifications and service price negotiations in such an environment. A prototype system consisting of real-time Java-based agents that interacts with a simulated network was developed to demonstrate scenarios and enable analysis. The studies show that this form of dynamic SLA negotiation introduces many innovative ways on how network services can be provisioned. This paper also highlights the effects of implementing dynamic connection bandwidth pricing on traffic load and network provider's revenues.

LNCS 2216, p. 299 ff.

Full article in PDF (331 KB)

Online publication: October 10, 2001
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