Application of cost models over traffic dimensioning with QoS restrictions

Network operators and Internet service providers are offering “Triple Play” products integrating services with different quality of service (QoS) requirements. The provision of QoS guarantees implies the revision of current dimensioning methods and consequences for costing and pricing. This paper proposes a cost model which considers QoS parameters, based on the Total Element Long Run Incremental Cost (TELRIC) model, calculating the cost of a network element and distributing it over the different services whose traffic uses it, taking into account the QoS requirements of each service. For this purpose, three traffic engineering methods are analyzed: complete traffic aggregation by “Over-engineering,” complete traffic segregation by separated virtual tunnels, and partial traffic aggregation by priority queuing. As an example, the cost model is applied to the connection in a Next Generation Network aggregation network for estimating the influence of QoS and traffic engineering on the cost estimation under the TELRIC model.