Multimedia network protocols: where are we?

Protocols for multimedia communication are needed to integrate into a single network services intended to satisfy the different requirements of multiple types of traffic. An essential prerequisite for designing these protocols is that the services to be offered by the network must be selected and specified in detail. We present the service models proposed, or being developed, by the Internet community, by the ATM community, and by the Tenet Group. We compare their common characteristics, which reveal the characteristics of the first integrated services networks are likely to offer. The services referred to in this paper are those at the network and transport layers, which support the services to be offered to the system's end users.