An investigation of application level performance in ATM networks

The goal of the paper is to investigate the relation that exists between the performance guarantees provided by a network, and what users of the network ultimately get. The focus is on the relation that exists between packet losses in a network, and message loses experienced by the application. This investigation is carried out in the context of an ATM network where network packets are of fixed size (cells), and the authors concentrate mostly on the impact of the application peak transmission rate. Varying this parameter for a given source while keeping network cell losses constant can translate into significant variation in the loss probability of application messages. In the paper, the authors develop and solve an analytical model to evaluate this behavior, and a set of guidelines that applications can use to determine which performance guarantees to require from the network to erasure an appropriate level of service