Optical OFDM-based Data Center Networks

Cloud computing and web emerging application has created the need for more powerful data centers with high performance interconnection networks. Current data center networks, based on electronic packet switches, will not be able to satisfy the required communication bandwidth of emerging applications without consuming excessive power. Optical interconnects have gained attention recently as a promising solution offering high throughput, low latency and reduced energy consumption compared to current networks based on commodity switches. This paper presents a novel architecture for data center networks based on optical OFDM using Wavelength Selective Switches (WSS). The OFDM-based solution provides high throughput, reduced latency and fine grain bandwidth allocation. A heuristic algorithm for the bandwidth allocation is presented and evaluated in terms of utilization. The power analysis shows that the proposed scheme is almost 60% more energy efficient compared to the current networks based on commodity switches.