IP Forwarding Alternatives in Cell Switched Optical Networks

Optical switching will enable core Internet packet switching to scale with future transmission rate increases. Currently proposed optical ATM switches do not allow packet reassembly, which is necessary for packet level forwarding. This results in the requirement to create end to end ATM virtual connections for flows even if they contain only one packet. In electronically switched networks MPOA and MPLS allow both cell and packet level forwarding to overcome this problem. This paper examines the feasibility of implementing such protocols over an optically switched network. Two different architectures are examined: use of an adjunct electrical router; and native optical packet reassembly. An examination of the optical reassembly buffer requirements show that the use of MPLS will require significantly more buffering than MPOA. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication Details This paper originally appeared as: Boustead, P & Chicharo, J, IP forwarding alternatives in cell switched optical networks, IEEE International Conference on Communications, 18-22 June 2000, vol 3, 1628-1632. Copyright IEEE 2000. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/infopapers/207 IP Forwarding Alternatives in Cell Switched Optical Networks Paul Boustead, Joe Chicharo Switched Networks Research Centre University of Wollongong Wollongong, Australia, 2522 AbstractOptical switching will enable core Internet packet switching to scale with future transmission rate increases. Currently proposed optical ATM switches do not allow packet reassembly, which is necessary for packet level forwarding. This results in the requirement to create end to end ATM virtual connections for flows even if they contain only one packet. In electronically switched networks MPOA and MPLS allow both cell and packet level forwarding to overcome this problem. This paper examines the feasibility of implementing such protocols over an optically switched network. Two different architectures are examined: use of an adjunct electrical router; and native optical packet re-assembly. An examination of the optical re-assembly buffer requirements show that the use of MPLS will require significantly more buffering than MPOA. Optical switching will enable core Internet packet switching to scale with future transmission rate increases. Currently proposed optical ATM switches do not allow packet reassembly, which is necessary for packet level forwarding. This results in the requirement to create end to end ATM virtual connections for flows even if they contain only one packet. In electronically switched networks MPOA and MPLS allow both cell and packet level forwarding to overcome this problem. This paper examines the feasibility of implementing such protocols over an optically switched network. Two different architectures are examined: use of an adjunct electrical router; and native optical packet re-assembly. An examination of the optical re-assembly buffer requirements show that the use of MPLS will require significantly more buffering than MPOA.