It is not surprising that researchers in network technology are utilizing ideas from the field of economics since it provides the conceptual understanding of underlying constructs such as usage and resource allocation. Proper resource allocation plays a key role in improving network performance. There are two primary approaches to economic resource allocation: quantity limits and pricing. Economic approaches can provide principles in situations and provide valuable guidelines and analysis. A concerted effort is needed from academia, the computer industry, network service providers, and businesses involved in electronic commerce to design new mechanisms for network operations that will be suitable for a new generation network applications. This chapter explores this economic approach for network management.
An Integrated Network Management Framework for Inter-domain Outbound Traffic Engineering