Bandwidth Efficiency in Internet AVPNs*

The efficient utilization and management of bandwidth in broadband networks is of paramount importance since bandwidth costs are likely to dominate network operational costs, especially in the wide area scenario. However, relatively little attention has been given to this issue in developing the current schemes for the transport of Internet data traffic over ATM. In this paper we describe a bandwidth allocation and management approach for the transport of Internet traffic over ATM that uses Virtual Private Networks, exploits the ABR service and implements bandwidth guarantees. We also address the efficient sharing of bandwidth between Internet data traffic and other media traffic using ATM.