On the Competitive Ratio of the Work Function Algorithm for the k-Server Problem

The k-server problem is one of the most fundamental online problems. The problem is to schedule k mobile servers to visit a sequence of points in a metric space with minimum total mileage. The k-server conjecture of Manasse, McGeogh, and Sleator states that there exists a k-competitive online algorithm. The conjecture has been open for over 15 years. The top candidate online algorithm for settling this conjecture is the Work Function Algorithm (wfa) which was shown to have competitive

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: STACS
• Authors: Yair Bartal, Elias Koutsoupias
• Keywords: Conjecture, Fundamental Online Problems, Online Algorithm, STACS 2000, Theoretical Computer Science