Programmable Multi-Granular Optical Networks: Requirements and Architecture

This paper presents a programmable multi-granular optical cross connect (MG-OXC) and network architecture deployable in multi-service and multi-provider networks. The concept of programmable MG-OXC is introduced to provide a way of utilizing multiple switching/transport granularities to efficiently support the emerging traffic demands in both core and metro networks. For this reason, the supported bandwidth granularities include full lambdas, sub- and super-lambdas and multiple transport formats such as bursts, flows and packets. The programmability is envisaged by a software/hardware platform that simplifies network control, re-planning at the logical level and end-to-end service transparency, by translating the technology-specific information to technology independent services in an abstracted and logical manner.