Demand for quality-differentiated network services

• Published in: Proceedings of the 36th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control Vol. 3; pp. 2922 - 2927 vol.3
• Main Authors: Edell, R., Varaiya, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 1997
• Subjects: Computer networks; Costs; Econometrics; Frequency; Information analysis; Investments; IP networks; Pricing; Quality of service; Web and internet services
• ISBN: 0780341872; 9780780341876
• ISSN: 0191-2216
• DOI: 10.1109/CDC.1997.657883

Future growth of Internet and related network services depends upon how these services are marketed. Two decisions are involved: the division of services into quality-differentiated market segments, and the pricing structure of each segment. Successful growth requires service providers to offer combinations of quality and price that match user need. But to do this providers must understand the structure of user demand. Such understanding is lacking at present. The paper describes a market experiment to estimate the demand for network services. INDEX-the Internet Demand Experiment-has two objectives: 1. Measurement of user demand for Internet access as a function of quality of service (QoS), pricing structure, and application; 2. Demonstration of an end-to-end system that provides access to a diverse group of users at attractive price-quality combinations.