Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.

Bruce S Northcote

Douglas H Hunt

A system and a method are disclosed for supporting multiple application traffic types over connection oriented networks. Data is received from multiple applications, for example in the form of data units, and is associated with a traffic type. The traffic type associated with a data unit indicates whether the data unit is inelastic traffic or elastic traffic. Data associated with inelastic traffic is mapped to at least one connection of a first connection type which provides for some amount of committed bandwidth, and limits on delay variation. Data associated with elastic traffic is mapped to at least one connection of a second connection type, which does not provide any committed bandwidth. Connections of the second connection type may ensure that elastic traffic data units that are accepted for transfer by the underlying network are delivered without loss due to network congestion, for example, by use of a flow control technique. A hierarchical scheduler may be employed to schedule transmissions of data units across connections organized into virtual trunks. The hierarchical scheduler may be used to ensure a high multiplexing gain with respect to connections within a single virtual trunk, as well as across multiple virtual trunks.

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Burnley, Australia

Bruce S Northcote