Perspectives in Performance Evaluation of Large ATM Networks

The demand for broadband communication is becoming more and more urging. In order to achieve a successful expand of the ATM technology, performance evaluation of large networks is a mandatory step and the challenge is now to simulate them in one piece. Distributed simulation is a promising tool for the simulation of such systems that can not be handled sequentially anymore. This paper presents our experiments in distributed simulation of a large ATM network at the cell-level on parallel machines. The models include a real routing algorithm, connection setup and VPI/VCI translation. First, a network of 26 switches is simulated on a CM-5 and on a Cray T3E. The results show that a maximum speedup of 4.5 can be obtained. Second, a larger network that contains 78 switches is simulated on the Cray T3E. This experiment shows that a speedup of 7.68 can easily be obtained.