Abstract
The paper finds similarities between voice traffic and high speed Internet data traffic characteristics from a facility provisioning perspective. Telephone switch traffic measurements are used to show that self-similarity is present in a voice traffic time series, to identify the factor associated with self-similarity, and then to demonstrate that traditional voice traffic provisioning methods remove self-similarity. Voice traffic methods and models are then applied with some modifications to a high speed Internet traffic series for various subscriber aggregations and time scale resolutions. Voice traffic models are found to be applicable to data traffic when it is processed in a similar way to that for voice traffic. The conclusions are based on model fitting results and goodness-of-fit tests for weekday busy hour Internet data traffic loads. The similarities appear to be strong enough that telephone company operations support systems and provisioning methods may require only relatively small modifications and extensions to support both voice and high speed Internet services. The findings can also benefit cable companies offering voice and data services.