April 05, 2007
Quality Concerns: Loki Jorgenson, Apparent Networks, with Bob Emmerson
Loki Jorgenson, Chief Scientist for Apparent Networks, responds to the opening question: What is Quality of Application? In light of the industry's current emphasis on QoE or Quality of Experience, Loki points out that QoA logically sits between QoS, the network performance, and QoE, the end-user experience. He goes on to relate how the 3 Qs of performance map directly onto the OSI Layer model and then illustrates how VoIP has essentially sidestepped the need to address QoA ... so far.
Loki then goes on to comment on the difference between "functional" and "dysfunctional" models of network performance. He points out that QoS has generally assumed that networks are functional - meaning that they are simply experiencing resource issues (like lack of bandwidth). Then resource management like QoS is a viable solution. The prevalence of degradation sources in most IP networks mean that operators need to think differently to resolve issues with performance - they are not resolved by QoS like in the case of congestion.
The conversation then turns to how the industry will evolve to meet the current challenges and whether a particular solution is likely to win out. Referencing the three layers of Quality again, Loki suggests that each one requires its own attention and thus its own solution. With an emphasis on "coupling" between the layers, it would seem inevitable that technologies and solutions will have to become integrated and flexible. Each customer will have such distinct needs that no one solution or vendor is likely to win through alone. In that vein, the nature of video is presented and how it will continue to raise the bar for the whole market. Voice was a relatively simple application in comparison to video. In fact, it is hard to listen to any two conversations about video on the network and imagine that they are talking about the same technology - is it High-Definition at home? Is it YouTube on the cell phone? Is it a tele-conferencing solution for SMBs?
Loki Jorgenson, Chief Scientist, Apparent Networks
Loki Jorgenson is the Chief Scientist at Apparent Networks and responsible for research, technology futures, intellectual property and overall thought leadership. As a Ph.D. physicist (McGill University) specialized in statistical mechanics and computational physics, Loki has been involved in a diverse range of network-based research since the early 1990s including high performance computing and grid networks, collaborative and distance learning, distributed interactivity, scientific visualization and algorithms development.
Today, Loki is a regular contributor at academic and network industry conferences, often speaking on expert panels and at workshops. As well, his views are regularly published as an industry columnist at searchNetworking and in various magazines. In addition, Loki authors many of the whitepapers offered by Apparent Networks.
Having joined the company in the early stages of its inception, Loki has directed the focus on expert systems, application modeling, network diagnostics, and packet behavioral analysis. The results have informed critical product developments at Apparent Networks in VoIP, video, high performance applications, wireless, automated network management and autognostics.
(To hear other podcasts in Bob Emmerson's Quality Concerns series click here.)
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