Pricing and charging are important management functions which future commercial networks will have to offer. Since the Internet is on the move to provide differentiated services, suitable and scalable management mechanisms are required for the backbone based on the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Architecture. Since network management following actual market forces has to implement a price-driven and charge-driven approach for managing the usage of services, this paper introduces as a first contribution the design of a generic and modular Internet Charging System (ICS), offering a service-independent architecture and integrating economically controlled network management functions into present Internet technology. Moreover, a central part of this ICS, i.e. the Internet Charge Calculation and Accounting System (ICCAS), is presented in more detail and offers necessary user support functions. The second main contribution of the paper focusses on the newly developed Cumulus Pricing Scheme (CPS). CPS is unique to define clear relations between different time-scales for accounting, monitoring, and charging activities. Charges in this schemes are based on flat fees and, hence, are predictable and transparent, whereas, unlike pure flat rate schemes, the incorporated feedback mechanism nevertheless allows to take market forces into account. Finally, it is demonstrated how the ICCAS is well-suited to integrate both DiffServ technology and CPS. Keywords: Charging Architecture, Internet Pricing Model, Differentiated Services, Service Level Agreements. Short Title (Run-in Header): Internet Charging with Cumulus Pricing 1

In this paper, we describe our current efforts to evaluate and extend the traffic control interface of RSVP and to define a useful policy control interface. The particular goal is to advance integration of non-broadcast multiple-access (NBMA) subnets, such as native ATM, and furthermore, to allow for meaningful inter-operation between traffic control and policy control. Our experience stems from implementing RSVP in combination with a policy interface to charging modules. Furthermore, we have developed a VC management module for ATM, which enables flexible inter-operation of RSVP with ATM subnets. We describe the current status of this work with respect to multicast, atomicity of operations and resulting challenges.

With service orientation gaining more importance over the last couple of years, new requirements have evolved which are posed on accounting management solutions. In brief, accounting management systems are required to support a wide-range customization of the provided accounting functionality according to customer needs. This includes among others the support of complex-structured, usage-based, customer-individual tariffs as well as the support of increasing dynamics due to change management activities. All in all, an accounting management system is needed which is able to handle the complete service life cycle regarding accounting in a customer- and service-oriented way. Additionally, from a provider's point of view a high automation of management tasks is demanded. This paper analyzes accounting-relevant management processes and presents a management solution based on policy-based concepts to overcome the shortcomings of previously developed solutions.

Because of the high level of uncertainty about the future traffic mix and the heterogeneous nature of Quality of Service (QoS) technologies and service contracts, it is very likely that a future commercial multi-service Internet requires a general service signalling architecture to reliably deliver end-to-end QoS. In this thesis, the suitability of the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) for this purpose is investigated and assessed. The thesis presents the following contributions: A flexible QoS signalling architecture is described, based on an extended version of RSVP. A new protocol engine has been designed and implemented, containing a number of design and algorithmic improvements over previous work. This implementation has been used to experimentally verify the technical suitability of RSVP. Additionally, new protocol elements have been developed to allow for flexible charging mechanisms of service invocations. Based on several calculation models for service invocations, these protocol elements are assessed to cover a variety of potential usage cases, namely cost-based pricing, auction-based pricing and advance service invocations. As a result, it is concluded that an extended version of RSVP is indeed a good candidate to form the basic building block for an overall commercial QoS signalling architecture.

The adoption of the Internet Protocol (IP) by a number of non-IP network operators, such as telecom or cable TV operators, opens the path toward new business models. IP will allow operators to provide a unified wired as well as wireless access to a wide range of services to their users. Additionally, using the same communication protocols and standard interfaces, enables different providers to coordinate any type of resources in Virtual Organizations (VO) and supports the composition of services aggregated across multiple domains. On one hand, such an open environment requires new business models to be adopted by the involved parties. On the other hand, Grid middleware infrastructure supporting integrated accounting, charging, pricing, and billing across multiple domains has to be in place to facilitate service provisioning in multiple VOs. Based on the relevant set of requirements derived, a new and extended A4C Architecture

re highly mobile; some might even be wearable and be worn much as eyeglasses are worn today. Low-cost transceivers will allow to interconnect these devices in spontaneous ways, and to link them into the global information infrastructure. Connected together and exchanging appropriate information, these smart devices will then form powerful systems enabling new emerging functionalities. When the world is populated with small computing devices that typically do their work in the background, without explicit user intervention, information and computational services will become continuously available, wherever the action is. Moreover, embedded sensors and actuators will enable smart devices and computing to become contextually embedded in real-world situations. This will give rise to situated computer applications that blend with the real tasks people care about instead of introducing computer-centric tasks of high complexity. Ubiquitous computing therefore induces a paradigm shift in the

For more information on this document or the M3I project, please contact: