A generic end-to-end distributed QoS management architecture and its application to IP-DiffServ over a WDM access feeder network

The growing widespread use of advanced multimedia and interactive real-time applications is setting forth new challenges such as end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) and broadband Internet access. The high bandwidth needs are pushing fiber closer and closer to the home, and as such WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) seems ideally suited to be used in the broadband access feeder network which interconnects the Internet core networks and the last mile networks. In the HARMONICS project (Hybrid Access Reconfigurable Multi-wavelength Optical Networks for IP-based Communication Services), a novel DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) based optical access feeder network is investigated. This feeder network transports IP, guarantees QoS and can feed various last mile networks, stimulating the convergence of access networks. VDSL and Hiperlan/2 are studied within the project as last mile access networks. To support end-to-end QoS, a distributed CORBA-based generic network management framework is being developed as part of the project. This paper elaborates on the framework which is aligned with TINA, although adapted to be more consistent and applicable. End-to-end QoS is based on Differentiated Services (DiffServ) at layer 3, various QoS supporting technologies at layer 2 and QoS mappings between both layers.