Efficient Offline Algorithmic Techniques for Several Packet Routing Problems in Distributed Systems

The development of distributed systems worldwide follows a steeper and steeper ascending trend, as such systems become natural solutions to many real-life problems. Communication (at a lower level) and collaboration (at a higher level) are two key elements of a distributed system. At the lowest level, packet routing techniques are employed by the intermediate nodes, switches and routers in order to transfer packets from a source to one or several destinations. However, the authors have little control over the packet routing techniques employed by the routers in the Internet and, furthermore, the Internet does not provide any kind of Quality-of-Service (QoS) guarantees.