Internetting connectionless data networks with a wide area public ATM network

Connectionless data services on ATM-based B-ISDN can be realized directly by means of the connectionless service function which is provided in connectionless servers. In this paper, we consider how to locate a certain amount of connectionless servers among the switching nodes in a public ATM network for the internetworking of connectionless data networks. The problem is formulated as a network optimization problem which is similar to the p-median problem. Two algorithms, one based on the greedy method and the other using branch-and-bound strategy, are presented to determine the locations of connectionless servers. By finding the optimal locations of connectionless servers, an optimal virtual overlay network which has minimized total transport costs for the connectionless data traffics can be constructed. (C) Elsevier Science B.V.