A Generalized Method for Real-Time Storage Estimation

In a previous paper, a method was presented for estimating the storage requirements for a message switching computer. The associated conditions for its application were quite stringent and included the following: the computer contains a large number of sending lines; the message sizes are exponentially distributed; the lines are unidirectional. This paper generalizes that method so as to develop approaches for a multitude of storage estimation problems. At the outset, the generalized method permits each of the aforementioned conditions to be dropped. Then it is used to deal with the problem of estimating the number of table entries required for message storage. Finally, it is applied to the situation wherein storage is decomposed into short- and long-range areas. This breadth of application is made possible by the nature of real-time storage problems, which permits estimates to be somewhat inaccurate. In fact, these problems necessitate that generalized methods-rather than specialized formulas-be developed if analysis is to be performed in a practical manner.