By combining the parameters from the various service elements in a path, it is possible to compute the maximum delay a piece of data will experience when transmitted via that path. While the requirements a setup mechanism must follow to achieve a guaranteed reservation are carefully specified, neither the setup mechanism itself nor the method for identifying flows is specified. This specification is intentionally independent of setup mechanism. To achieve a bounded delay requires that every service element in the path supports guaranteed service or adequately mimics guaranteed service. However this requirement does not imply that guaranteed service must be deployed throughout the Internet to be useful.
Guaranteed service can have clear benefits even when partially deployed.
If fully deployed in an intranet, that intranet can support guaranteed service internally. Because service elements produce a delay bound as a result rather than take a delay bound as an input to be achieved, it is sometimes assumed that applications cannot control the delay. In reality, guaranteed service gives applications considerable control over their delay. The fixed delay is a property of the chosen path, which is determined not by guaranteed service but by the setup mechanism. Only queueing delay is determined by guaranteed service.