VMware, Inc.
LINEAR BYZANTINE AGREEMENT

Abstract:

An optimistic byzantine agreement protocol (the protocol) first tries to reach agreement via an efficient deterministic algorithm (synchronous protocol) that relies on synchrony for termination. If an agreement is not reached (e.g., due to asynchrony), the protocol uses a randomized asynchronous algorithm (asynchronous protocol) for fallback. Although randomized asynchronous algorithms are considered to be costly, the rationale here is to bound communication in non-synchronous runs after an equivalent cost has already paid.