In this paper we present a novel buffer management scheme based on fuzzy logic. We deal with the problem of managing traf®c¯ows with different priorities within the same buffer. The aim is to guarantee the QoS of high-priority traf®c, and at the same time exploit unused buffer resources to accommodate best-effort traf®c in order to maximize the total throughput. The scheme we propose can be applied both to ATM and IP networks. The performance evaluation of the fuzzy priority control scheme shows that it outperforms any static threshold mechanism and, as far as the total throughput is concerned, it is very close to that of the push out mechanism considered in literature as an ideal mechanism. Finally, we address some implementation issues of the control system and propose the design of a new cost-effective VLSI fuzzy processor.