A probabilistic quality of service constraint for a location model of switches in ATM communications networks

We formulate a model for the optimal location of switches in ATM communicat ions networks. The networks are designed in such a way that, at their arriv al to the switches, ATM cells find free space in a buffer of length b, with a probability alpha. The model avoids the impairment to the communication caused by both cell loss (because of shorter buffers) and cell-delay variat ions (because of longer buffers). It is also shown how to transform a non-l inear, probabilistic, constraint into a linear form. Computational experien ce is provided for the model.