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Main Authors: Wang, Cheng, Wang, Yi, Jiang, Changjun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.11110
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author Wang, Cheng
Wang, Yi
Jiang, Changjun
author_facet Wang, Cheng
Wang, Yi
Jiang, Changjun
contents Metcalfe's Law captures the relationship between the value of a network and its scale, asserting that a network's value is directly proportional to the square of its size. Over the past four decades, various researchers have proposed different scaling laws on this subject. Remarkably, these seemingly conflicting conclusions have all been substantiated by robust data validation, raising the question of which law holds greater representativeness. Consequently, there remains a need for inherent mechanism to underpin these laws. This study aims to bridge this disparity by offering a theoretical interpretation of Metcalfe's Law and its variations. Based on a certain degree of consensus that "traffic is value", network effects are gauged using network traffic load. A general analytical boundary for network traffic load is deduced by balancing practicality and analytical feasibility through the establishment of a comprehensive network model. From this foundation, the mechanism behind Metcalfe's Law and its variants is elucidated, aligning the theoretical derivations with the previously validated empirical evidence for Metcalfe's Law.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_11110
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Emergence of Metcalfe's Law: Mechanism and Model
Wang, Cheng
Wang, Yi
Jiang, Changjun
Networking and Internet Architecture
Metcalfe's Law captures the relationship between the value of a network and its scale, asserting that a network's value is directly proportional to the square of its size. Over the past four decades, various researchers have proposed different scaling laws on this subject. Remarkably, these seemingly conflicting conclusions have all been substantiated by robust data validation, raising the question of which law holds greater representativeness. Consequently, there remains a need for inherent mechanism to underpin these laws. This study aims to bridge this disparity by offering a theoretical interpretation of Metcalfe's Law and its variations. Based on a certain degree of consensus that "traffic is value", network effects are gauged using network traffic load. A general analytical boundary for network traffic load is deduced by balancing practicality and analytical feasibility through the establishment of a comprehensive network model. From this foundation, the mechanism behind Metcalfe's Law and its variants is elucidated, aligning the theoretical derivations with the previously validated empirical evidence for Metcalfe's Law.
title Emergence of Metcalfe's Law: Mechanism and Model
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.11110