Patent ID: 7106756

Claim:
A method for controlling customer resources for network traffic delivery, comprising: tracking network utilization of a group of endpoints on a network to generate group utilization level information corresponding to a current amount of network resource consumption by the group; receiving a message corresponding to a request for network resources for a data flow for one of the endpoints, the request including an identifier associated with the one endpoint and being from one of a router and a packet switch, associated with the one endpoint, said one of the router and the packet switch is a policy enforcement point (PEP); determining whether the request is accepted based on the group utilization level information, the identifier, and a predetermined profile, the predetermined profile being associated with the group and including a network utilization limit; forwarding to said one of the router and the packet switch the result of the decision whether to accept the request; and performing the steps of tracking, receiving, and determining on a server that forms a policy decision point independent of said PEP.