Traffic shaping in asynchronous transfer mode networks

Attention in performance engineering studies of ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks is beginning to focus on high level issues such as specification of the contract between network and customer, and management of bandwidth in the network. The paper deals with one aspect of the contract between network and customer, namely charging. It describes a means by which customers may reduce the burstiness of their traffic streams (this process is referred to as traffic shaping, or simply shaping) and quantifies the benefit which shaping can bring to the traffic capacity of the network. Such results are a necessary precursor to the definition of a charging and operations policy for the ATM network