QoS and Traffic Engineering (TE) are central issues in the evolution of
the Internet technology, and in its ability to be the convergence
technology. To succeed in this challenge, IP will have to support legacy
services such as Frame Relay, Voice, and VPN together with classic
Internet applications such as email, web, and media streaming. In this
presentation, we take the perspective and the experience gained in a
tier 1 IP backbone to explain why over-provisioning is the only approach
to provide quality of service in the Internet. Alternatives to
overprovisioning are discussed. In particular, we explain why MPLS is
not needed in a well designed IP network. We show that Classes of
Service can be provided in the Internet with simple TE practices and
with overprovisioning. Various aspects of a large backbone engineering
and operations are taken into consideration to justify our position, in
particular resistance to failure, simplicity of management, and costs.
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