Perspectives on ATM switch architecture and the influence of traffic pattern assumptions on switch design

Abstract

Switch designs and the uniform distribution traffic pattern that has been the basis of much switch design analysis are discussed. In particular it is shown that head of line blocking is not the major cause of switch and link underutilization. Switch fabric and buffer system input bandwidth tradeoffs are described. For client server applications it is shown that having the majority of switch buffers on the input side of a switch reduces overall switch buffering.