Network capacity recovery and efficient capacity deployment in switching centers

Abstract

One way for service providers to reduce their costs is through network capacity recovery. We describe the problem of recovering capacity by minimizing the switching overhead incurred by multiple switches in a switching center. We also describe the Multiple ATM Switch Configuration Optimization Tool (MASCOT), which addresses this problem. Initially developed for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches, the tool applies flexibly to other devices such Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) cross connects or Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) routers. New services enabled by this tool include (1) reconfiguration of an existing switching center to increase the number of available switch ports and (2) efficient green field design for migrating to new hardware. Given the set of external trunks and the traffic demands between them, MASCOT searches for a switching center topology that minimizes the traffic carried on internal trunks. MASCOT handles a wide variety of switch types with hierarchical constraints imposed by components such as interface cards, processor cards, and slots.