Reliability objectives in next-generation Internet

The benchmark for the reliability quality of networks depends mainly on the accuracy of the reliability parameters. Analytical solutions for such parameters exist for simple network architectures. In this paper simulations are used to determine reliability parameters for complex architecture such as the MPLS backbone planned for next-generation Internet. Beside analyzing single figure average type reliability parameters such as availability, average downtime over one year, and probability of zero downtime, the paper also considers the downtime distribution among a population of equally design systems. The distribution approach provides more comprehensive information about the behavior of the individual systems. Results obtained from the simulations are compared to the analytical results of simple parallel architecture.