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Optimality of the shortest line discipline

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Wayne Winston*
Affiliation:
Indiana University

Abstract

We consider a queuing system consisting of a finite number of identical exponential servers. Each server has its own queue, and upon arrival each customer must be assigned to some server's queue. Under the assumption that no jockeying between queues is permitted, it is shown that the intuitively satisfying rule of assigning each arrival to the shortest line maximizes, with respect to stochastic order, the discounted number of customers to complete their service in any time t.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1977 

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