Efficient support for the client/server paradigm over heterogeneous ATM networks

We present a new network design problem that arises when designing virtual paths in an ATM network to properly support client/server applications. We present several alternatives for the solution, discuss their pros and cons, and focus on a novel 'greedy' solution, which we prove to optimize certain important criteria (namely, the network overhead for a request/response and the utilization of bandwidth and routing table resources). In addition, we propose a new, efficient bandwidth allocation scheme which is tailored for client/server applications over ATM networks. The results in this work imply the importance of ATM switches that switch both VPs and VCs.