Author Description

This accessible and timely book collects in a single volume the essentials of stochastic networks, from the classical product-form theory to the more recent developments such as diffusion and fluid limits, stochastic comparisons, stability, control (dynamic scheduling) and optimization. The book was developed from the authors' teaching stochastic networks over many years. It will be useful to students from engineering, business, mathematics, and probability and statistics. As stochastic networks have become widely used as a basic model of many physical systems in a diverse range of fields, the book can also be used as a reference or supplementary readings for courses in operations research, computer systems, communication networks, production planning and logistics, and by practitioners in the field.