Abstract: A system and method for determining the optimum price that a service provider should charge to customers of at least a partially refundable extended-product warranty to optimize profits generated from providing such warranties. In one aspect of the present invention the customer may elect to purchase warranty coverage when the product is new and cancel warranty coverage at any time thereafter, which election is based in part on the customer's expected discounted net utility from his coverage decisions. In another aspect of the present invention, the customer is allowed to make dynamic repair or replacement decisions in each period based on the product's failure status or on other criteria. In one embodiment, the customer can be afforded warranty coverage flexibility in terms of his ability to turn coverage off whenever desired and to obtain a partial refund of the warranty premium.

Abstract: A system and method for determining the optimum price that a service provider should charge to customers of a periodic extended-product warranty to optimize profits generated from providing such warranties. In one aspect of the present invention the customer is allowed to elect or to cancel warranty coverage on a monthly basis which election is based in part on the customer's expected net utility from his coverage decisions. In one embodiment, the customer can be afforded complete warranty coverage flexibility in terms of his ability to turn coverage on and off whenever desired. In another aspect of the present invention the customer can be allowed to make dynamic repair or replacement decisions in each period based on the product's failure status or on other criteria.

Abstract: One embodiment is a method that determines, for a sale of a product and a post-sale service for the product from a supplier to a retailer, an expected supply chain profit for the sale as a function of an effort cost function of the retailer, a quantity of the product ordered, and an expected revenue of the retailer. A wholesale price schedule is determined that is a function of the quantity of the product ordered by the retailer. The wholesale price schedule reduces effects of double marginalization on the sale of the product and the post-sale service.

Abstract: Provided are techniques for determining a state of flow through, or a cut of, a network in which some the capacities of at least some of the conduits are dependent upon a specified parameter. Initially, a derived network is obtained by replacing capacities in the original network that depend upon the parameter. A particular flow state then is identified for that derived network, and this flow state is used to determine either a state of flow through or a cut of the original network.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus is disclosed for allocating resources to applications. Available resources of a networked computing system may be determined. For each application, required resources of the application may be determined. An assigned subset of the available resources for each application is determined as a function of the required resources of the application and the available resources. The function reduces communication delays between resources of the subset of the available resources in conformance with bandwidth capacity requirements of the application and in conformance with network bandwidth limitations. The applications may then be associated with the assigned subsets of resources.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to methods for pricing limited use product warranties to increase profit. Such a method can include selecting a plurality of potential warranty options, where each warranty option has an associated product usage limit and an associated warranty purchase cost; calculating a customer's expected support cost; determining a customer demand for each of the plurality of warranty options; calculating a provider's expected option profit for each of the plurality of warranty options; and calculating a provider's expected total profit for the plurality of warranty options.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to product warranties having a residual value and a potential rebate based on the residual value. The residual value can thus be inversely related to the number of claims filed against the warranty.

Abstract: Interconnection links between hosts and devices are optimized by using the operational parameters, for example, the bandwidth, of an edge/core switch network. In one embodiment, integer programming is used to create a mathematical model of the connectivity problem so as to optimize the minimum fraction of each host's or device's bandwidth demand routable from that host or devices to a core switch. In one embodiment, the mathematical model is solved by an integer problem solver.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed for reprovisioning an interconnect fabric design for interconnecting a plurality of network nodes. A design for the interconnect fabric specifies an arrangement of elements of the fabric and flow requirements among the network nodes. The invention programmatically reprovisions the design. This may include determining whether the flow requirements are satisfied by the design and whether the design violates constraints on the elements, such as bandwidth capacity and number of available ports. If the design does not satisfy the flow requirements, then the design is modified until the flow requirements are satisfied. Modifications are performed systematically by first attempting those that are least disruptive to the design and, then, attempting modifications that are increasingly more disruptive. As a result, the design is efficiently and cost-effectively reprovisioned to meet the flow the requirements.

Abstract: A technique for verifying and reprovisioning an interconnect fabric design using integer programming techniques. Requirements for the interconnect fabric design to be reprovisioned may be referred to as flow requirements. The flow requirements may include, for example, source and terminal nodes for communication flows and communication bandwidth required for the flows. An existing interconnect fabric design specifies an arrangement of elements of the fabric, such as links and interconnect devices. The invention programmatically verifies whether the existing design satisfies the flow requirements using integer programming techniques. If the existing design does not satisfy the flow requirements, the invention may also be used to reprovision the existing design to satisfy the flow requirements.