Future Internet Infrastructure Based on the Transparent Integration of Access and Core Optical Transport Networks

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that the Internet is transforming into a platform providing services beyond today’s expectations. To successfully realize this transformation, the structural limitations of current networking architectures must be raised so that information transport infrastructure gracefully evolves to address transparent core–access integration, optical flow/packet transport, and end-to-end service delivery capability, overcoming the limitations of segmentation between access, metro, and core networks and domains. We propose and evaluate an integrated control plane for optical access and core networks, which addresses the above consideration. The proposed control plane can lead to a unified transport infrastructure integrating state-of- the-art components and technologies including wavelength division multiplexing, passive optical networking, and optical packet routers with inherent traffic grooming capabilities. The performance of the proposed architecture is assessed by means of simulation in terms of cost, resource utilization, and delay.