Demand for quality-differentiated network services

互联网和其他网络服务的未来增长取决于这些服务的营销方式。 这涉及到两个决策：将服务划分为质量不同的细分市场，以及每个细分市场的定价结构。 有证据表明，用户对服务质量的需求取决于应用程序，熟悉程度和支付意愿。 在供应方面，网络技术现在可以支持广泛的服务质量。 因此，成功的增长要求服务提供商提供符合用户需求的质量和价格组合。 但要做到这一点，供应商必须了解用户需求的结构。 目前缺乏这种认识。 这是一个市场实验的建议，以估计网络服务的需求。 指数-互联网需求实验-有三个目标： 1.根据服务质量、定价结构和应用程序衡量用户对互联网接入的需求; 2.演示一个端对端系统，以有吸引力的价格和质量组合向各种用户群体提供接入; 3.开发一个原型系统，可以扩展到服务于所有伯克利分校的学生，教师和工作人员在用户资助的基础上远程网络访问的需求。 该实验将从伯克利校园社区招募160名学生、教职员工。 用户将从QoS价格产品菜单中选择并支付网络服务。 用户的决定将受到监测，数据将用于估计其需求结构。 该实验将产生一组独特的数据，可以对这些数据进行分析，以表征单个和聚合网络流量，并评估管理网络资源的策略，以适应不同的用户需求。

Future growth of Internet and other network services depends upon how these services are marketed. Two decisions are involved: the division of services into quality-differentiated market segments, and the pricing structure of each segment. There is evidence of diversity in user demand for service quality depending on application, familiarity, and willingness to pay. On the supply side, network technology now can support a wide range of service quality. Successful growth therefore requires service providers to offer combinations of quality and price that match user need. But to do this providers must understand the structure of user demand. Such understanding is lacking at present. This is a proposal for a market experiment to estimate the demand for network services. INDEX---the Internet Demand Experiment---has three objectives: 1. Measurement of user demand for Internet access as a function of quality of service (QoS), pricing structure, and application; 2. Demonstration of an end-to-end system that provides access to a diverse group of users at attractive price-quality combinations; 3. Development of a prototype system that can be scaled to serve the demand for remote network access from all Berkeley students, faculty and staff on a user-financed basis. The experiment will recruit 160 students, faculty and staff from the Berkeley campus community. Users will select and pay for network services from a menu of QoS-price offerings. User decisions will be monitored and the data will be used to estimate their structure of demand. The experiment will produce a unique set of data that can be analyzed to characterize individual and aggregate network traffic and to evaluate strategies for managing network resources to accommodate diverse user needs.