This rigourous and self-contained book describes mathematical and, in particular, stochastic methods to assess the performance of networked systems. It consists of three parts. The first part is a review on probability theory. Part two covers the classical theory of stochastic processes (Poisson, renewal, Markov and queuing theory), which are considered to be the basic building blocks for performance evaluation studies. Part three focuses on the relatively new field of the physics of networks. This part deals with the recently obtained insights that many very different large complex networks - such as the Internet, World Wide Web, proteins, utility infrastructures, social networks - evolve and behave according to more general common scaling laws. This understanding is useful when assessing the end-to-end quality of communications services, for example, in Internet telephony, real-time video and interacting games. Containing problems and solutions, this book is ideal for graduate students taking courses in performance analysis.

"The monograph Performance Analysis of Communications Networks and Systems by Piet Van Mieghem, Professor of Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), can be recommended for graduate students and researchers working in the area of networking performance analysis...The book includes a lot of solved exercises and supplementary problems well suited for self-work, as well as an exhaustive bibliography...if you prefer fresh approaches and results within the area of probabilistic modeling of packet networks at the inevitable danger of being haunted by rigorous mathematical derivations, you must refer to van Mieghem's book."
IEEE Communications Magazine