What is Access Policing

Networks are designed to handle a certain amount of traffic with an acceptable level of network performance. Network performance will deteriorate if the offered traffic exceeds the given network capacity. Packets will suffer long queuing delays at congested nodes and possibly packet loss if buffers overflow. Traffic control within the network regulates traffic flows for the purpose of maintaining adequate network performance during conditions of congestion. The Internet currently has a simple approach—dropping IP packets during congestion—but will evolve to more sophisticated traffic controls in the future.