Algorithm evaluation for the synchronous data compression standards

Abstract

In association with an industry standardization effort, we have developed an evaluation procedure for compression algorithms for communication networks. The Synchronous Data Compression Consortium is a group of data transmission equipment makers who are promoting an interoperable standard for link layer compression. The target market is synchronous interconnection of routers and bridges for intemetworking over the public digital transmission network. Compression is desirable for such links to better match their speed to that of the interconnected local area networks. But achievable performance is effected by interaction of algorithm, the networking protocols, and implementation details. The compression environment is different from traditional file compression in inducing a tradeoff between compression ratio, compression time, and the performance metric (network throughput). In addition, other parameters and behaviors -=e introduced, including robustness to data retransmission and multiple interleaved streams. Specifically, we have evaluated the following issues through both synchronous queuing and direct network simulation: