Predictive management of a network buffer

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of instructions executable with a processor to facilitate predictively managing a network buffer, the network buffer having a queue configured to enqueue packets at an input and to dequeue packets at an output, the plurality of instructions are sufficient for:

• predicting sojourn time for each packet prior to being enqueued to the queue, the sojourn time estimating time needed for the corresponding packet to travel through the queue;
• determining to one of drop and not drop each packet prior to being enqueued based at least in part on the corresponding sojourn time;
• and
• enqueuing packets determined to be not drop without adding a timestamp such that the corresponding packet travels through the queue without addition of a time-based marking.

A network element comprising:

• a queue operable to queue packets for subsequent transport over a link;
• and
• a controller having non-transitory computer-readable medium with a plurality of instructions executable with a processor to facilitate to managing packet drops, the plurality of instructions being sufficient for:
• calculating a sojourn time for packets prior to the corresponding packets entering the queue, each sojourn time estimating time needed for the corresponding packets to travel through an entirety of the queue before being dequeued;
• and
• one of dropping and not dropping the packets depending on the sojourn time associated therewith, including dropping the packets having the sojourn time above a sojourn threshold and not dropping the packets having the sojourn time equal to or less than the sojourn threshold.