Class dependent routing in backbone computer networks

Users of wide area computer networks vary both in terms of their service requirements and of their communication characteristics. Examples of such distinguishing factors are type of service, priority level, message length, etc. This paper presents a system that provides the network designer with a means to define good fixed routes to be used by the different classes of messages in the network. The main tradeoffs inherent to the problem are captured in an analytical model for which efficient solution methods are developed. The resulting algorithm is tested on several example networks, and the main results of extensive computational experiments are reported.