General batch service disciplines – a product-form batch processing network with customer coalescence

A new batch service discipline is introduced that allows for customers of different classes to leave together in one batch. This so-called general batch service discipline is discussed for servers with signals and class-independent or class-dependent exponential service times. The equilibrium distribution and the associated traffic equations are calculated and it is shown that such servers are quasi-reversible. This property allows to model a network of servers with general batch service discipline that possesses a product-form equilibrium.