The optimal control of heterogeneous queueing systems: a paradigm for load-sharing and routing

The essence of the basic control decisions implicit in load-sharing and routing algorithms is captured in a simple model of heterogeneous queue control. The authors solve for the optimal control policy and investigate the performance of previously proposed policies in a tractable limit of this model. Using their understanding of this solvable limit, the authors propose heuristic policies for the general model. Simulation data for these policies suggest that they perform well over a wide range of system parameters