AnM/M/c queue with impatient customers

This paper considers theM/M/c queue in which a customer leaves when its service has not begun within a fixed interval after its arrival. The loss probability can be expressed in a simple formula involving the waiting time probabilities in the standardM/M/c queue. The purpose of this paper is to give a probabilistic derivation of this formula and to outline a possible use of this general formula in theM/M/c retrial queue with impatient customers. This research was supported by the INTAS 96-0828 research project and was presented at the First International Workshop on Retrial Queues, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, September 22–24, 1998.