Unfortunately, the resultant number of events is not linear in the network size and scalability is accordingly limited when buffer or server are dynamically shared, rather than pre-allocated to flows. In the latter case we can have the additional difficulty of computationally expensive events, when the global state of network flows must be updated in response to local events. Though not a modeling panacea, fluid-flow models should be exploited, whenever possible, to achieve reductions in the computational complexity of simulation runs, without unduly sacrificing modeling power. A useful general strategy is to trade modeling accuracy for reduced computational complexity. The latter captures the network environment in which the target flow is embedded.
Previous work suggests that such tandem networks can support fast simulation for a sizable network.
Khosrow Sohraby Computer Science Telecommunications, University of Missouri-Kansas City 5100 Rockhill Rd. Benjamin Melamed Faculty of Management 94 Rockafeller Rd.