In this video, Peter Rysavy and I lay out the highlights of network management. This is a topic that is almost universal in public policy because so many issues relate to access to shared resources. When we talk about fair and equitable access to healthcare, electricity, roadways, or information, we’re talking about network management.

Peter lays out the importance of network management in bringing new applications such as safer cars to the market. This is an application in which very short response times are key. Others that have this property are video conferencing and remote surgery.

Network management plays a role in ensuring service reliability. By design, the Internet ensures a good blend of performance and economy by allowing multiple users and applications to access the same pool of bandwidth. But there is also a pool of latency that has to be allocated accorded to application needs.

We accept the need for network management every time we stop at a traffic light, and we also see the value of doing it efficiently every time we fail to see any traffic crossing our path while we’re waiting.

As with many areas of technology, network management is something that always needs to be done as well as something that can always be done better.