Wiley-Interscience Series in Systems and Optimization Queueing Networks Customers, Signals and Product Form Solutions Xiuli Chao, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA Masakiyo Miyazawa, Science University of Tokyo, Japan Michael Pinedo, New York University, USA 'Mathematically beautiful and elegant yet has much practical application' - Professor Richard Weber The first mathematical analysis of a queueing problem concerned the use of early telephone switches. Since then, emerging technologies such as those in telecommunications and the manufacturing industry have prompted considerable interest and activity in the field. Much of the current research has been enabled by recent, rapid advances in computer technology making large scale simulations and complex approximations possible. Today, queueing systems play an integral role in the performance evaluation and optimization of computer, communication. manufacturing and transportation systems. Includes: * Discussion on the fundamental structures of queueing network models * The latest developments in the field * Thorough examination of numerous applications * Exercises at the end of each chapter * Coverage of queueing networks with signals * Discussion of future research developments With the advances in information technology, many networks have, in addition to conventional jobs, signals and messages circulating throughout the system. A signal carries information and instructions and may trigger complex simultaneous events. The objective of this book is to present, in a unified framework, the latest developments in queueing networks with signals, After introducing the foundations in the first four chapters, Chapters 5 through to 8 cover a number of different queueing network models with various features. Chapters 9 to 11 focus on more fundamental structures of queueing networks and Chapter 12 presents a framework for discrete time queueing network models. The text is illustrated throughout with numerous examples. Graduate students in operations research, computer science, electrical engineering and applied mathematics will find this text accessible and invaluable. An essential reference for operation researchers and computer scientists working on queueing problems in computing, manufacturing and communications networks.