Emulating circuits in a broadband packet network

Considers the importance of circuit emulation for customer requirements and its continued value as the broadband network evolves from broadband access to an integrated network combining broadband access with broadband packet switching. Next, the authors address two related issues, the effects of a circuit emulation requirement on packet network performance requirements and, given these requirements, the design of conforming packet networks. They examine two performance requirements, those related to packet loss and those related to packet delay and jitter. The requirement that the packet network preserve the timing integrity of the emulated circuit is translated into performance requirements that protect against packet loss. It is shown that the packet loss due to buffer overflow or underflow should be better than 10 ^-10 for any end-to-end connections. Finally, the authors describe a two-stage time-space switch that could satisfy the performance constraints required for circuit emulation