Paper Info
Title
Network interface systems: an evaluation by simulation
Abstract
The availability of low-cost digital communication services has made it productive for computer users to remotely access multiple computer resources. This is a particularly sound strategy for accessing complex resources that are infeasible to relocate. At the same time, the availability of low-cost and reliable minicomputer systems which can accommodate sizable numbers of terminals has enabled a shift of some interactive programming and information processing to these small, standalone systems. Although these small systems are powerful and can be configured flexibly, there are a number of opportunities to expand the scope of an individual user by relating the small system directly to other host computers via a network. In accomplishing this feat, however, there are a bewildering number of technical and economic alternatives. This paper addresses one of the issues surrounding the development of such systems namely the relative performance and cost characteristics of a minicomputer system in the role of both a standalone processor and a network interface. The methodology for the evaluation is stochastic simulation. The basic measurements for the base line simulations and model validation is a DEC PDP-11/45 computer system operating under the UNIX operating system in the Science Center at Harvard University. The paper describes the simulation methodology and the individual experiments in some detail. Several conclusions are drawn about the performance and cost characteristics of such systems and also about the use of simulation to evaluate these characteristics.
Year
DOI
Venue
1976
10.1145/1499799.1499873
AFIPS National Computer Conference
Keywords
Field
DocType
base line simulation,minicomputer system,cost characteristic,computer system operating,unix operating system,reliable minicomputer system,small system,network interface system,host computer,computer user,standalone system,stochastic simulation,information processing,network interface,operating system
Stochastic simulation,Computer resources,Unix operating system,Information processing,Computer science,Minicomputer,Systems simulation,Real-time computing,Interactive programming,Operating system,Network interface,Distributed computing
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.34
0
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Joe B. Wyatt121.11
Vincent I. Polley250.80