Project No.: 5003-054559 01.07.98 - 31.12.99

Project leader: Prof. Bernhard Plattner, Inst. f. techn. Informatik und Kommunikationsnetze, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETHZ)
e-mail: plattner@tik.ee.ethz.ch

Name of project: Charging and accounting technology for the Internet (CATI): Protocols for the Internet and virtual private networks (CAPIV)

Partners:
Prof. Thorsten Braun, Institut für Rechnernetze und verteilte Systeme, University of Bern
Thomas Brunner, SWITCH, Zurich
Dr. Urs Zurfluh., Institut für Informatik, University of Zurich

Funding: Sfr 446,310.-

Summary:
User charging issues on the Internet have never been solved. This is owing to the Internet’s origins as a publicly funded network for research and educational purposes. The emerging need for providing a basis for charging and accounting schemes requires protocols and mechanisms capable of collecting information such as the number of data packets transmitted, duration of transmission, or flow labels to determine resource and service usage. A causation-compliant accounting system for Internet services is essential for the commercial expansion of electronic markets. For many commercial users, an Internet-based virtual private network (VPN) is indispensable for security reasons.

This project develops the following goals:

• Design and implementation of charging and accounting mechanisms based on currently available Internet protocols;
• Design and implementation of a configuration service for VPNs, including charging and accounting functions, best-effort services, differentiated service alternatives, fair and secure control mechanisms for user data traffic;
• Development of generic support functions for Internet-based electronic markets.

The aim is to:

• supplement existing Internet protocols in order to achieve a fair charging and accounting system;
• draw up configuration functions for VPNs which the user can consult in order to define and cost his requirements;
• incorporate RSVPs (Resource Reservation Protocols) for reserving bandwidth for individual data flows.

Cooperation:
Institut für Technische Informatik und Kommunikationnetze, Fed. Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich
Institut für Informatik und Angewandte Mathematik (Institute of Applied Mathematics), University of Bern
Switch, Zurich
Institut für Informatik, University of Zurich.