A pricing and accounting software architecture for QoS guaranteed serviceson a multidomain network

There is a need for a pricing and accounting mechanism that allows for fair competition between network providers in order to sustain the continued de velopment of networks. In this paper, the authors discuss revenue flow for communications fees in connectionless services in a multidomain network. Th e authors propose an accounting system using a Network Access Agent (NAgent ) that stands between users and network providers in a network and a pricin g system based on the amount of usage in a QoS-guaranteed service as a comp rehensive accounting mechanism based on the number of packets sent and rece ived between domains in a best-effort-type service. In addition, the author s describe the NAgent software architecture based on the TINA business mode l. (C) 2000 Scripta Technica.