Why go to the effort?
Internet woefully under-measured & under-instrumented
Internet very diverse - no single path typical
Users need end-to end measurements for:
- realistic expectations, planning information
- guidelines for setting and validating SLAs
- information to help in identifying problems
- help to decide where to apply resources
Complements ESnet utilization measurements
Provides information for reporting problems to NOC
Notes:
increase in number of users, increase in power available at desktop and in servers, newer applications (more graphics based, video, voice etc.), need for better QoS.
Since it is driven largely by user needs all the data is made publicly available via the Web.