Partitioning a token ring network for performance advantage

The authors introduce the concept of partitioning a token-ring network, and demonstrate quantitatively the corresponding performance advantage. Attention is given to a two-partition token-ring network which can operate in either the single-ring mode or the two-partition mode. It is found that for reasonable values of system parameters, while the single-ring mode performs close to a conventional token ring, the two-partition mode results in substantial performance improvement such as higher channel capacity and better delays vs. throughput behavior when traffic is more local. It is demonstrated that there exists a certain threshold load above which the two-partition token ring performs better in the two-partition mode, while, below this load, it is preferable to operate the ring in the single-ring mode