A method of managing resources in a switched network including the steps of assigning
a respective willingness to pay WtP value to each of a plurality of network users,
assigning respective set point values for a network performance parameter for each
of a plurality of routers in the network, assigning a respective initial price
value to each router which is associated with the network performance parameter
at the router, and operating a first control loop which is operable to receive
respective measures of the actual network performance at each of the routers, calculate
for each router, a plurality of difference values which are the respective differences
between the actual performance and the set point for each router, adjust the price
value for each router by a factor based on the respective difference value, generate
a flow price value for each user by summing the price values for each of the routers
in the path of the respective user's desired data flow through the network, allocate
a resource share value for each user which represents the value of the respective
VtP value divided by the respective flow price value, and cause the ingress router
for each user to restrict flow into the network ingress from each user in accordance
with each user's allocated resource share value, whereby the actual network performance
at each router is made to converge to the set point value for the respective router
by automatic admission control adjustment at the network ingress routers.
