ABSTRACT
In this chapter we show how some of the models and techniques presented in the previous chapters can be extended to networks of queues. A network of queues is a system consisting of several service facilities connected by logical or physical links along which customers move from one facility to another, in some cases choosing among alternative paths through the system. In the previous chapter we studied systems of parallel queueing facilities, which are the simplest examples of networks of queues: each path through the system contains exactly one facility. As we shall see, many of the results for such systems carry over without too much additional effort to more general networks of queues. But there are also some important differences and new results.
