# Homa: A Receiver-Driven Low-Latency Transport Protocol Using Network Priorities (Complete Version)

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09615 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09615/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 26 Mar 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [A new hope for network model generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05843/) (2022)
- [Boosting Distributed Machine Learning Training Through Loss-tolerant Transmission Protocol](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04279/) (2023)
- [I've Got 99 Problems But FLOPS Ain't One](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12819/) (2024)
- [GraphCC: A Practical Graph Learning-based Approach to Congestion Control in Datacenters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04905/) (2023)
- [MLCC: A Congestion Control Technique to Accelerate ML Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.09589/) (2024)
- [SwiftQueue: Optimizing Low-Latency Applications with Swift Packet Queuing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.06112/) (2024)
- [Assistants, Not Architects: The Role of LLMs in Networked Systems Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.25506/) (2026)
- [Resilient AI Supercomputer Networking using MRC and SRv6](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.04333/) (2026)
- [Tuning Collective Patterns to Alleviate Congestion in Shared AI Clusters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.04417/) (2026)
- [Deploying RDMA for Distributed Inference and Training At Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12815/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Homa is a new transport protocol for datacenter networks. It provides exceptionally low latency, especially for workloads with a high volume of very short messages, and it also supports large messages and high network utilization. Homa uses in-network priority queues to ensure low latency for short messages; priority allocation is managed dynamically by each receiver and integrated with a receiver-driven flow control mechanism. Homa also uses controlled overcommitment of receiver downlinks to ensure efficient bandwidth utilization at high load. Our implementation of Homa delivers 99th percentile round-trip times less than 15μs for short messages on a 10 Gbps network running at 80% load. These latencies are almost 100x lower than the best published measurements of an implementation. In simulations, Homa's latency is roughly equal to pFabric and significantly better than pHost, PIAS, and NDP for almost all message sizes and workloads. Homa can also sustain higher network loads than pFabric, pHost, or PIAS.