The design and management of ATM virtual path connection networks

Modern communication networks can cross connect traffic flows to form logical end-to-end connections between all origin-destination pairs and thus create fully meshed logical networks upon sparse physical networks. Such logical connections are known as virtual path connections (VPCs) and a logical network formed by VPCs is known as a VPC network (VPCN). We present an efficient algorithm called XFG to compute optimal configurations for VPCNs carrying multiservice traffic. We compare the features of the XFG algorithm and the characteristics of standard nonlinear programming solvers. We present a model where a sequence of busy period multiservice traffic is offered to a network. The XFG algorithm is used to compute an optimal VPCN design for each busy period. We compare the grade of service attained by VPCN redesign, dynamic alternative routing (DAR), and a combination of VPCN redesign, call queueing and DAR.