ACTION-660: Input to BP2, on Conservative use of network traffic

Hi all,

This is one of a series of emails addressing ACTION-660. This thread
will address the requirements and recommendations for "Conservative use
of network traffic" in BP2.

Here is the current editor's draft text in the Requirements (2) and Best
Practice Statements (5) sections:
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2.5 Conservative use of network traffic

Web applications that autonomously interact with network-based services
can have a very significant impact on service cost. These costs can be
borne by the user and/or network service provider. Users with "bucket"
or per-KB service plans can find themselves responsible for huge
charges. Network service providers can bear these costs for users that
subscribe to unlimited service plans, and as a result may restrict the
types of applications available to users with such plans.

The overall goal is that users are informed of the potential impact of
application operation, and that regardless of the user's service plan,
applications use network resources conservatively.

5.5 Conservative use of network traffic

Web applications that autonomously interact with network-based services
should be designed to minimize the overhead of network traffic for such
automatic functions. Such web applications are refered to here as
"autonomously interacting web applications".

Autonomously interacting web applications should support content
compression, e.g. HTTP 1.1 gzip/deflate compression, for both upload and
download operations.

Autonomously interacting web applications should support user control
over the intensity of the network interaction.

Autonomously interacting web applications should be intelligent enough
to "back off" autonomous operation during periods in which little or no
service value results from the network interaction.

Autonomously interacting web applications that provide network
event-triggered content delivery should support push methods, e.g. OMA
Push, to avoid the need for rapid polling for new events.
+++++

[bryan] These recommendations focus on specific techniques that can
significantly reduce the network impact of applications. Simple
awareness that efficiency is a goal to be considered can result in
better design practices by developers. Combined with developer
understanding that the user should be informed of autonomous behavior,
the techniques mentioned here should promote an overall less costly and
better performing network environment.

Best regards,
Bryan Sullivan | AT&T

Received on Friday, 15 February 2008 18:51:19 UTC