Management of Online Server Congestion using Optimal Demand Throttling

摘要

We model a network congestion management problem of an online-service-provider (OSP) that uses bandwidth throttling as a tool, and show that it is optimal for the OSP to throttle the demand whenever it reaches a threshold level and downgrade the service-speed by a fixed factor while the throttling is employed. Our numerical simulations suggest that it is always optimal for OSPs to induce negative (demand) growth rates during throttling to reduce unfavorable future demand. Moreover, our comparative statics analysis explains how OSPs should handle user demand with higher growth rates and volatility, and service networks that face higher demand fluctuations.