Performance evaluation of software architectures

There is growing recognition of the importance of the role of architecture in determining the quality attributes, such as modifiability, reusability, reliability, and performance, of a software system. While a good architecture cannot guarantee attainment of quality goals, a poor architecture can prevent their achievement. This paper discusses assessment of the performance characteristics of software architectures. We describe the information required to perform such assessments and discuss how it can be extracted from architectural descriptions. The process of evaluating the performance characteristics of a software architecture is described and illustrated with a simple case study. 1.