Average case performance vs. Worst-case guarantee

Fri Sep 26 06:54:56 UTC 2003

>   When an ISP buys a router does it want a worst-case guarantee about the
> router's capabilities? Or will it buy a router which can give better
> performance in the average case (it may drop some packets if the traffic
> pattern changes suddenly)? Assuming both cost the same.

Worst case guarantee is necessary in many cases. Easy example:

A router that can handle an STM-1 of regular Internet traffic is worthless
to us if it dies in the face of an STM-1 with minimum sized attack traffic.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug at nethelp.no