On IP-over-WDM integration

  • Authors:

  • N. Ghani;S. Dixit;Ti-Shiang Wang

  • Affiliations:

  • Nokia Res. Center, Espoo;-;-

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Communications Magazine
  • Year:
  • 2000

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.25

Visualization

Abstract

Expanding Internet-based services are driving the need for evermore bandwidth in the network backbone. These needs will grow further as new real-time multimedia applications become more feasible and pervasive. Currently, there is no other technology on the horizon that can effectively meet such a demand for bandwidth in the transport infrastructure other than WDM technology. This technology enables incremental and quick provisioning up to and beyond two orders of magnitude of today's fiber bandwidth levels. This precludes the need to deploy additional cabling and having to contend with right-of-way issues, a key advantage. Hence, it is only natural that over time optical/WDM technology will migrate closer to the end users, from core to regional, metropolitan, and ultimately access networks. At present, WDM deployment is mostly point-to-point and uses SONET/SDH as the standard layer for interfacing to the higher layers of the protocol stack. However, large-scale efforts are underway to develop standards and products that will eliminate one or more of these intermediate layers (e.g., SONET/SDH, ATM) and run IP directly over the WDM layer. IP over WDM has been envisioned as the winning combination due to the ability of the IP to be the common revenue-generating convergence sublayer and WDM as a bandwidth-rich transport sublayer. Various important concerns still need to be addressed regarding IP-WDM integration. These include lightpath routing coupled with tighter interworkings with IP routing and resource management protocols, survivability provisioning, framing/monitoring solutions, and others