COMPUTER NETWORK DESIGN PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM EXPERIENCE AND MEASUREMENTS ON THE ARPA NETWORK

Abstract

The design of the ARPA experimental computer network was a distributed effort which benefited from the talents of many people working both in concert and independently. In this paper we discuss some of the principles of design which have evolved from that effort. The measures, models and analytical results from design are further compared to simulation and measurement of the network itself; this permits us to evaluate the design tools themselves. We find that these principles are applicable to message-switching networks in general, and therefore the scope of this paper goes beyond that of the ARPA network.