Quality guaranteed media delivery over advanced network

Moving large quantities of data between distributed parties is a frequently invoked process in data intensive applications, such as collaborative digital media development. These transfers often have high quality requirements on the network services, especially when they involve user interactions or require real time processing on large volumes of data. The best effort services provided by IP-routed networks give limited guarantee on the delivery performance. Advanced networks such as hybrid networks make it feasible for high level applications, such as workflows, to request network paths and service provisioning. However, the quality of network services has so far rarely been considered in composing and executing workflow processes; applications tune the execution quality selecting only optimal software services and computing resources, and neglecting the network components. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview on this research domain, and introduce a system called NEtWork QoS Planner (NEWQoSPlanner) to provide support for including network services in high level workflow applications.