Managing application level quality of service through TOMTEN

With the growth of mobile computing, users will have simultaneous access to multiple overlaid networks, each with different characteristics, services and costs. This paper introduces TOMTEN (TOtal Management Of Transmissions for the ENd-user), a framework for managing resources in both this type of environment as well as the traditional single network environment. TOMTEN i s a reactive framework that is only activated when either the application i s started or the user indicates dissatisfaction with a current session. The reactive architecture of TOMTEN also supports application adaptivity. Appl ication adaptivity in TOMTEN does not require modifications to the applicat ion and is done transparently using proxy modules, (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.