Communication and software vendors unite to propose an IETF specificationfor bandwidth control
(January 4, 1996) - To help end users get seamless access to highbandwidth applications on the Internet and corporate networks, eightleading data communication industry vendors today announced a new,collectively authored draft specification. This new protocol, BandwidthAllocation Control Protocol (BACP), will help end users simply managemultiple links in a dial-up connection. BACP will enable bandwidth tochange on demand through a standard set of rules, while minimizing the needfor the end user to be involved in complex connection configuration issues.The protocol, especially useful in
"PPP Multilink (MP) provides an industry-standard approach for thedelivery of incremental bandwidth," said John Coons, principal analyst atDataquest. "However, it lacks the ability to dynamically control multipleconnections in a standardized manner. The new BACP specification, whenused in conjunction with PPP multilink, will offer users the best of bothworlds," added Coons.
An informational Request for Comment (RFC) on BACP is now in thehands of the IETF and is based upon original work from Shiva Corporationand Ascend Communications, with technical modifications from all of theother consortium members. The vendor consortium will also work togetherfor interoperability testing of their solutions in order to ensure seamlessconnectivity for the end user. This new RFC has also been submitted to theIETF PPP Mailing List to facilitate broader feedback from other keyindustry players to begin the formal standardization process. Detailedinformation on the current draft is available through IETF lists andftp.shiva.com in the outgoing/eng directory.
Posted: Tue Apr 2 16:00:06 PST 1996
