Applying QoS control through integration of IP and ATM

The article describes the application of the integrated services concept wh ere IP is using ATM as the transport layer for providing QoS control. Integ rated services technologies based on IPv6 have been developed and implement ed in a pan-European field trial where students are evaluating distance lea rning applications with QoS control. An overview of the architecture is giv en, followed by a description of the features of the basic technologies. Th e background for selecting the technologies is described. The focus is on t he access network domain, and the objective is to reduce the resources requ ired and be able to offer a range of premium services. The work of extendin g user applications for distance learning with QoS is described. The techni cal performance and user perception of QoS control were tested and evaluate d in the trials. The main conclusions and recommendations are discussed. Th e integrated services concept is recommended for use in the access network. It was found that QoS control of end-user applications is of benefit for d istance learning. However, the design of the user interface should hide all network-relevant parameters from the end user. There is a need for standar d software to support integrated services.