Network economies for the Internet

Abstract

We review and consider problems of Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning, resource allocation and pricing in computer networks and information systems. We consider such complex systems as economies where multiple classes of users (consumers) compete for resources and services from suppliers: network providers and information providers (servers). The resources under contention are network bandwidth and buffers, server processing rate and memory. We model and solve problems using economic principles and market mechanisms, where resources are priced by suppliers based on demand, and users buy resources to satisfy their Quality of Service (QoS)needs. We focus on the issues of QoS provisioning, and the reasons in choosing economic paradigms to solve some of the problems.