Searching for quality QoS - As methods for assuring QoS reach critical mass, new technologies may hold the answer.(Industry Trend or Event)

THE GROWTH IN network-reliant business services and applicationsin the past decade has resulted in enterprise LANs brimming with heterogeneous traffic, intranets, ERP (enterprise resource planning) and e-business applications vying for the same limited bandwidth. These bandwidth- hungry applications have driven the demand for smarter networks, and from this demand, QoS (quality of service) was born.

The problem with QoS is knowing where to implement solutions along the network -- on the LAN, at the WAN's edge, or on the desktop -- to maximize effectiveness and reduce expense. It's a source of endless debate among network engineers and has no definitive answer.

Because every enterprise is home to diverse topologies, various applications, and different distributed networking requirements, each QoS deployment must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

One certainty, however, is that QoS remains an absolute …