The growth of the Internet with its increasing levels of traffic, more ambitious applications and the convergence of communication technologies results in poor quality of service. New technologies such as those discussed in this paper have been developed to aid in introducing quality of service to the Internet. However, those efforts may seem to be in vain due to the heterogeneous nature of IP-based networks. This paper suggests an integrated approach to provide end-to-end quality of service on the Internet based on the use of programmable interfaces. The need for dynamic modification of policies and configurations within IP routers and switches is already beginning to emerge and that functionality will help fulfill customers' demands for differentiated services.