Spring 2006 Seminar Series

DATE: Thursday, March 23, 2006
LOCATION: E40-298
TIME: 4:15pm
Reception immediately following in the Philip M. Morse Reading Room, E40-106

SPEAKER:
Petar Momcilovic

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

University of Michigan

TITLE
Waiting Time Dynamics in Large-Scale Queues

ABSTRACT
The interrelation between service efficiency, as manifested through resources¹ utilization and service quality, as perceived by users, is the key trade-off in dimensioning queueing systems. Very often high utilization is achieved at the cost of low service quality (e.g. frequent long delays). When considering a single resource, this trade-off is inherent and essentially cannot be avoided. However, economies of scale come to the rescue here. Indeed, large-scale service systems can operate in a regime where both objectives, efficiency and quality, are accomplished. We consider such a regime and show that the waiting time process evolves according to simple mechanism.