Waiting time distribution of an ATM switch routing two-class traffic with two service rates

In this article we analyse the waiting time of an arbitrary packet in an output buffered space division switch routing two-class traffic, e.g. in a multimedia environment. For the purpose of the analysis, the switch is modelled as a priority, discrete time, batch arrival queueing system, with a single server having two service rates. The results of the analysis are verified in various ways, including obtaining previously published results as special cases. The fundamental contribution of this article is the assumption of two service rates, one for each class, rather than the typical assumption of one service rate for both classes. This assumption is useful in that it accounts for the different quality of service (QoS) needs of each class. Another contribution is the introduction of a new approach to analyse the waiting time—an approach not based on the system occupancy as is typical in the published literature. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.