es fit into your required performance and compare one supplier to another. Ingest, play out, and file transfer of program content as promised in many product and service descriptions require network connec- tions with sufficient bandwidth, GOS, and QOS. Even non-time- sensitive or non-real-time transport-so-called FTP-should be planned and implemented with care because the size of the files and the time required to move them have significant economic im- plications. Standard, so-called out-of-the-box or plug-and-play default LAN configuration included with recent generation Microsoft Operating systems (OS; W2000 Workstation & Server; WXP) enable non- real-time or FTP program content transport. Connect Ethernet to a network interface card (NIC) with access to the Internet, install the OS, run the Internet wizard, and voila! Instant success. No further fuss or effort and file transfer across the Internet from one host to another is possible. PRACTICAL IP AND TELECOM FOR BROADCAST ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS These operating systems also permit configuration of an NIC to enable QOS as specified in IEEE 802.1p a method whereby packets carrying continuous content can be marked and differentiated SO LAN segments can isolate and protect the content from the effects of congestion and chaos mentioned above. Ethernet packets mapped to IP enable QOS marking to be passed to the IP network. If the network has differentiated services capability, real-time content transport across the network is possible. Older operating systems (NT 4; 95/98) do not include 802.1p/QOS capability. Two types of connections are possible, and both may be required by the application. These include Unicast, or point-to-point, and multicast, or point-to-multipoint. These types of connections enable single or mul- tiple deliveries of files or streams, sometimes referred to as objects. The basic elements of a content transport network include customer premises equipment (CPE), access facilities at each location, and backbone transport in between. The equi