System and method for automatically determining a recommended committed information rate

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for using tolerances obtained from a user together with historical information about a communication network to analyze the network's performance and to calculate and recommend a specific change to the committed information rate (CIR) over a given permanent virtual circuit (PVC). The historical information, which is collected by a network management system connected to at least two communication devices in a communication network, relates to various performance parameters, which may include the total data transmitted, received and dropped above and within the original CIR, and the burstiness of the data. The historical information is automatically analyzed in view of the user's designated tolerances to determine the network's data transmission performance, and a forward-looking recommendation of an optimum CIR is made, based on the analysis. The results of the analysis and the recommended change to the CIR are displayed to the user in a graphical format.

1 . A communication device comprising: 
 a connection to a communication network, wherein data is intended to be transmitted along the connection according to a specified network performance level;    means for providing information related to the actual network performance over a period of time; and    means for receiving a recommendation to adjust the network performance level based on the actual network performance with respect to the specified network performance level.    
   
   
       2 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the communication device corresponds to a service provider.  
   
   
       3 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the communication device corresponds to an end user.  
   
   
       4 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving means receives the recommendation from a network management system.  
   
   
       5 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the network performance level corresponds to a user's tolerance for data dropped by the network.  
   
   
       6 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the network performance level corresponds to a total amount of data transmitted over the connection during a specific period of time.  
   
   
       7 . The communication device of  claim 6 , wherein the total amount of data transmitted over the connection comprises a first amount of data within a committed information rate (CIR) and a second amount of data above the CIR.  
   
   
       8 . The communication device of  claim 7 , wherein the network performance level corresponds to the user's tolerance for an unused portion of data within the CIR.  
   
   
       9 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the network performance level corresponds to the burstiness of the data.  
   
   
       10 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the network performance level corresponds to a service level agreement (SLA) between a service provider and an end user, wherein the SLA comprises at least one of a rate of data flow, transmission delay, or availability of service.  
   
   
       11 . A network management system of a communication network, the network management system comprising: 
 means for obtaining information corresponding to an initial guaranteed level of network performance provided to an end user on the communication network;    means for collecting information corresponding to the actual performance of the communication network over a period of time; and    means for recommending a revised guaranteed level of network performance based on the initial guaranteed level of network performance and the actual performance of the communication network.    
   
   
       12 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the information collecting means stores historical information over a plurality of time periods, and the recommending means comprises trend analysis logic for analyzing trends of the performance of the communication network based on the historical information.  
   
   
       13 . The network management system of  claim 12 , wherein the trend analysis logic forecasts network performance based on the trends.  
   
   
       14 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the recommending means provides data to an end user, the data corresponding a recommendation to change the guaranteed level of network performance and corresponding to the actual performance of the communication network.  
   
   
       15 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the obtaining means, collecting means, and recommending means are configured in software.  
   
   
       16 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the information collecting means collects data corresponding to the end-to-end data delivery success.  
   
   
       17 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the information collecting means collects data corresponding to data transmitted within a committed information rate (CIR), data transmitted above the CIR, and the degree of bursting above the CIR.  
   
   
       18 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the information collecting means collects data corresponding to data dropped by the communication network.  
   
   
       19 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the recommending means generates a report of network performance in response to a request from an end user.  
   
   
       20 . The network management system of  claim 11 , wherein the guaranteed level of network performance provided to the end user corresponds to the performance along a virtual circuit between the end user and a service provider.