Influence of priorities on the performance of a fast packet switch in the case of bursty traffic

Existing communication networks will be replaced by integrated networks which are able to handle various types of traffic and satisfying the needs of a large number of applications. In order to offer different service classes according to different service needs, priorities have been suggested to distinguish loss sensitive data from other traffic. This is necessary when - as in packet switched networks - physical connections are not dedicated to just one application, but data packets of a number of virual circuits are multiplexed across a physical link influencing each other in terms of delay and packet loss. This paper describes the needs of some communication services, priority schemes that were suggested to offer more than one service class and simulations that were made to get a feeling for the influence of highly bursty traffic on the performance of a fast packet switch. It will show how priorities influence traffic characteristics for bursty traffic.