ICES:Small: An architectural, economic, and legal approach to encouraging end-to-end Quality of Service in the Internet

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Networking research on Internet Quality of Service techniques has resulted in standards that have been widely incorporated into routers. And yet, use of Quality of Service practices is very limited. Internet Service Providers have implemented Quality of Service practices to support their own voice and video services, but do not offer Quality of Service techniques to their subscribers for use by any other Internet applications. Internet Service Providers have not incorporated Quality of Service practices into their agreements with other Internet Service Providers, and hence Quality of Service techniques are not available across the Internet. The limited deployment of Quality of Service practices has ignited vigorous debate over Net Neutrality, one of the most contentious telecommunications public policy issues in decades.This project will address the lack of availability of Quality of Service techniques widely across the Internet. It will adopt an interdisciplinary approach that integrates network architecture, economics, and law. The project will have three goals. First, it will create and analyze network architecture and economic models that can give insight into when an Internet Service Provider will choose to offer Quality of Service techniques to application providers other than itself. Second, it will consider how communications law may affect the development of Quality of Service practices. Third, it will illustrate potential technical and economic arrangements between users, Internet Service Providers, and application-providers that could enable widespread deployment of Quality of Service practices in a manner consistent with new laws regulating traffic management. It is hoped that the results will encourage the widespread deployment of Quality of Service practices and thus enable further development of novel Internet applications. The research will also encourage interdisciplinary teaching of networking technology, economics, and law through further development of a novel undergraduate course on The Internet and Public Policy. The research, if successful, will inform ISPs and regulators, and potentially improve both the functional character of the Internet and the revenue opportunities of the ISPs.