- Increasing number of actors involved in ser-
vice provision and delivery; connecting sys-
tems and networks managed by different
actors, partly co-operating and partly compet-
ing, require adequate sets of means for a given
actor to ensure its business and service levels
towards its customers. This is further compli-
cated by the dynamic commercial and techni-
cal environment that an actor faces.
Several aspects have to be addressed as part of
Traffic Engineering. A selection of the topics
has been included in this issue of Telektronikk.
These are divided into a number of sections as
shown in the table of contents. Firstly, a set of
papers of introductorynature presents an over-
view of the IP suite, history of Internet and prin-
ciples of Traffic Engineering. Basic topics of
designing and operating an IP-based network are
then treated in a set of articles in the second sec-
tion, called traffic, routing, resources. Interdo-
main, SLA, policy and managementis the fol-
lowing section, addressing essential questions
for commercially offering services – in a fast,
accurate and automatic way. The papers deal
with internal procedures and systems (e.g. man-
agement systems) as well as relations with other
actors (e.g. agreements). Measurementsare piv-
otal to follow and document the performance of
the network. A set of papers is showing how to
carry out measurements and factors to consider.
The last section is called systems and services,
presenting a few areas where solutions for IP
and Traffic Engineering are used or required,
like for mobile, for optics, and for voice.As the use of abbreviationsflourishes, a com-
mon list is collected at the end of this issue.