In this paper, a network dimensioning approach suitable to the Internet is discussed. Differently from the traditional telephone networks, it is difficult to guarantee QoS for end-users even in a statistically sense due to an essential nature of an end-to-end communication architecture in the Internet. We should therefore adopt another approach, based on the traffic measurement. In the approach, the traffic measurement is performed for monitoring the end-to-end QoS. Then, the network adaptively controls the link capacities to meet the user's QoS demands. For this purpose, the underlying network should support such a capability that the link capacities can be flexibly reused. With the WDM network as an underlying network, an example scenario for network provisioning is finally illustrated.

In this article, we first discuss QoS metrics of the data networks, followed by raising the challenging problems for the next-generation Internet with high-performance and high-quality. We then discuss how the WDM technology can be incorporated for resolving those problems. Several research issues for the IP over WDM networks are also identified.

We have developed an advanced tool for dimensioning circuit-switched networks, called CNEP (Circuit-Switched Network Evaluation Program) , for effective design of digital networks. CNEP features a high-reliability network structure (node dispersion, double homing, etc) , both-way circuit operation, and circuit modularity (or big module size), all of which are critical for digital networks. CNEP also solves other dimensioning problems such as the cost difference between existing and newly installed circuits, and handles multi-hour traffic conditions, dynamic routing, and multiple-switching-unit nodes. Operations Research techniques are applied to produce exact and heuristic algorithms for these problems. Algorithms with good time-performance trade-off characteristics are chosen for CNEP.