The authors introduce a new approach for traffic characterisation in A
TM networks. This is based on the study of remote quantiles associated
with stationary point processes as functions of the time interval. It
is shown that useful information about the mean and variability of th
e process can be extracted from the asymptotic behaviour. Finally, the
authors show the use of such time quantiles in the context of queue d
imensioning which allows comparison of the blocking behaviour of traff
ic streams without detailed calculations.