| In the early days of the Internet, designers assumed voice traffic statistics would work for data traffic. |
| Few measurements were made, and the dawn of the net was filled with the digital equivalent of the busy signal. |
| Because there is no global routing of packet traffic, packets can arrive at busy links at rates exceeding the capacity of the link. |
| The design solution was to equip each link with a buffer for excess packets. |
| When the downstream traffic cleared, packets in the buffer were sent on their way. |
| Unfortunately, the fluctuations in data traffic are much larger than those of voice traffic. |
| Early buffers were occasionally terribly inadequate, and buffered packets often were lost. |
Return to the fractal nature of internet traffic.