The changes in this third edition reflect the more than 20 years of experience we have had using the prior versions as a text in teaching queueing theory and as a reference work, plus numerous comments we have had from colleagues since the first and second editions appeared. The most important modifications in this new edition relate to our incorporation of spreadsheet-based computer software in recognition of the incredible strides made in personal computing in the short 12 years since the second edition appeared. Self-extracting compressed files of the book's QTS software can be obtained for no charge in either Excel or Quattro Pro from the public John Wiley ftp web site, ftp://ftp.wiley.com/public/sci_tech_med/queueing_theory/

The latest errata for each chapter is based on the 7th printing.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Simple Markovian Birth-Death Models

Chapter 3: Advanced Markovian Queueing Models

Chapter 4: Networks, Series, and Cyclic Queues

Chapter 5: Models with General Arrival or Service Patterns

Chapter 6: More General Models and Theoretical Topics

Chapter 7 (and Appendix 3): Bounds, Approximations, Numerical Techniques, and Simulation; QTS Software

SPECIFIC MAJOR CHANGES

1. The old Section 1.7 on deterministic models has been streamlined and combined with material on general results previously scattered throughout the book and with the data bookkeeping presentation previously found in the discussion of simulation in the old Chapter 8. We have introduced more complete discussions of queue sample paths and the development of Little's formulas as a result. At the end of Chapter 1, we have moved up the presentation of the basic results on birth-death processes from Section 2.1 into Section 1.10, following the lengthy discussion of Markov processes in 1.9.

2. Less the material on birth-death processes moved to Section 1.10, Chapter 2 remains much like it was previously. The narrative has been changed somewhat, but the order of material is the same. In light of the relative simplicity of the formulations in this chapter, virtually all the models discussed here have been included in the software as distinct modules.

3. There are some additional results added in Chapter 3 on the classical Markovian bulk and Erlang models, including more details on the E_j /E_k /1 queue. The inclusion of these sorts of models in the software is especially important given their inherent numerical complexity.

4. In the second edition, we had introduced an entirely new Chapter 4 on the important topic of queueing networks. This time, we have smoothed out the narrative, included new material on reversibility, and added a section on mean-value analysis (MVA).

5. Chapter 5's first nine sections on M/G/1 queues and variations are largely unchanged, but Section 5.10 has been expanded to combine departure-point state dependence with the concepts of decomposition and server vacations. Section 5.2 contains a new proof of Erlang's loss formula built around the reversibility of Markov processes, first discussed by us in Chapter 4. The material following in the chapter on GI/M/c has also been expanded to include a more complete discussion on the necessary rootfinding involved and the extension from the single-server problem to multiple servers. This chapter is also very well covered in the software.

6. Chapter 6 contains new material on the G/E_k /1 queue, including the extension of simple rootfinding into the complex domain. This material is combined with expanded discussions on matrix geometric solutions and quasi-birth-death processes. The discussion on the G/G/1 problem has thus been moved to Section 6.2 and remains largely as was. The solution to the problem following this - the M/D/c queue - is then connected back to the same sort of complex rootfinding problem as for the G/E_k /1. The sections in this chapter on Markov renewal processes, alternative disciplines, design and control, and statistical inference have all been updated and expanded.

7. The new Chapter 7 combines the important topics of bounds, approximations, numerics and simulation. The discussions on bounds and approximations have been updated and slightly expanded from the previous edition. But our coverage of simulation has been reduced from a full chapter (8) to just a section and moved into Chapter 7. We felt that we could not do justice to the subject in a limited number of pages, given the subject's explosive growth since the second edition, and have, instead, merely summarized the most general elements of simulation modeling.

COURSE COVERAGE

Again, this edition assumes a knowledge of undergraduate differential and integral calculus, elements of differential equations and matrix manipulations, and a calculus-based probability and statistics course.
 

DONALD GROSS

CARL M. HARRIS

School of Information Technology and Engineering
George Mason University
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
phone: 703-993-1670
fax: 703-993-1521

[dgross1@gmu.edu ]