An algorithm for distributed management of traffic on interconnected networks

High-bandwidth fiber-optics networks have a potential for wide-area coverage through incremental interconnection of local -and metropolitan- area subnetworks. With packet-switching, these networks can support integrated services. As the size of the network increases, the problem of network management becomes more complex. Protocols used in current, slow packet-witched networks cannot be economically extended to broadband networks: simpler protocols are needed. This paper proposes a very simple algorithm for allocating bandwidth to internetwork connections on such a composite network, so as to avoid bandwidth congestion when supporting connection-oriented applications. This algorithm uses distributed control to achieve robustness and flexibility, and requires little intelligence in internetwork gateways, so that it can be easily implemented in hardware.