Multicast traffic aggregation in MPLS-based VPN networks

This article gives an overview of the current practical approaches under study for a scalable implementation of multicast in layer 2 and 3 VPNs over an IP-MPLS multiservice network. These proposals are based on a well-known technique: the aggregation of traffic into shared trees to manage the forwarding state vs. bandwidth saving trade-off. This sort of traffic engineering mechanism requires methods to estimate the resources needed to set up a multicast shared tree for a set of VPNs. The methodology proposed in this article consists of studying the effect of aggregation obtained by random shared tree allocation on a reference model of a representative network scenario.Publicad

IDEALIST control and service management solutions for dynamic and adaptive flexi-grid DWDM networks

Wavelength Switched Optical Networks (WSON) were designed with the premise that all channels in a network have the same spectrum needs, based on the ITU-T DWDM grid. However, this rigid grid-based approach is not adapted to the spectrum requirements of the signals that are best candidates for long-reach transmission and high-speed data rates of 400Gbps and beyond. An innovative approach is to evolve the fixed DWDM grid to a flexible grid, in which the optical spectrum is partitioned into fixed-sized spectrum slices. This allows facilitating the required amount of optical bandwidth and spectrum for an elastic optical connection to be dynamically and adaptively allocated by assigning the necessary number of slices of spectrum. The ICT IDEALIST project will provide the architectural design, protocol specification, implementation, evaluation and standardization of a control plane and a network and service management system. This architecture and tools are necessary to introduce dynamicity, elasticity and adaptation in flexi-grid DWDM networks. This paper provides an overview of the objectives, framework, functional requirements and use cases of the elastic control plane and the adaptive network and service management system targeted in the ICT IDEALIST project

Access and metro network convergence for flexible end-to-end network design

This paper reports on the architectural, protocol, physical layer, and integrated testbed demonstrations carried out by the DISCUS FP7 consortium in the area of access - metro network convergence. Our architecture modeling results show the vast potential for cost and power savings that node consolidation can bring. The architecture, however, also recognizes the limits of long-reach transmission for low-latency 5G services and proposes ways to address such shortcomings in future projects. The testbed results, which have been conducted end-to-end, across access - metro and core, and have targeted all the layers of the network from the application down to the physical layer, show the practical feasibility of the concepts proposed in the project

On IP over WDM burst-switched long haul and metropolitan area networks

The IP over Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) network is a natural evolution ushered in by the phenomenal advances in networking technologies and technical breakthroughs in optical communications, fueled by the increasing demand in the reduction of operation costs and the network management complexity. The unprecedented bandwidth provisioning capability and the multi-service supportability of the WDM technology, in synergy with the data-oriented internetworking mechanisms, facilitates a common shared infrastructure for the Next Generation Internet (NGJ). While NGI targets to perform packet processing directly on the optical transport layer, a smooth evolution is critical to success. Intense research has been conducted to design the new generation optical networks that retain the advantages of packet-oriented transport prototypes while rendering elastic network resource utilization and graded levels of service. This dissertation is focused on the control architecture, enabling technologies, and performance analysis of the WDM burst-switched long haul and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). Theoretical analysis and simulation results are reported to demonstrate the system performance and efficiency of proposed algorithms. A novel transmission mechanism, namely, the Forward Resource Reservation (ERR) mechanism, is proposed to reduce the end-to-end delay for an Optical Burst Switching (OBS)-based IP over WDM system. The ERR scheme adopts a Linear Predictive Filter and an aggressive reservation strategy for data burst length prediction and resource reservation, respectively, and is extended to facilitate Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation at network edges. The ERR scheme improves the real-time communication services for applications with time constraints without deleterious system costs. The aggressive strategy for channel holding time reservations is proposed. Specifically, two algorithms, the success probability-driven (SPD) and the bandwidth usage-driven (BUD) ones, are proposed for resource reservations in the FRRenabled scheme. These algorithms render explicit control on the latency reduction improvement and bandwidth usage efficiency, respectively, both of which are important figures of performance metrics. The optimization issue for the FRR-enabled system is studied based on two disciplines - addressing the static and dynamic models targeting different desired objectives (in terms of algorithm efficiency and system performance), and developing a \u27\u27crank back\u27\u27 based signaling mechanism to provide bandwidth usage efficiency. The proposed mechanisms enable the network nodes to make intelligent usage of the bandwidth resources. In addition, a new control architecture with enhanced address resolution protocol (E-ARP), burst-based transmission, and hop-based wavelength allocation is proposed for Ethernet-supported IP over WDM MANs. It is verified, via theoretical analysis and simulation results, that the E-ARP significantly reduces the call setup latency and the transmission requirements associated with the address probing procedures; the burst-based transport mechanism improves the network throughput and resource utilization; and the hop-based wavelength allocation algorithm provides bandwidth multiplexing with fairness and high scalability. The enhancement of the Ethernet services, in tandem with the innovative mechanisms in the WDM domain, facilitates a flexible and efficient integration, thus making the new generation optical MAN optimized for the scalable, survivable, and IP-dominated network at gigabit speed possible

Cost-effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure for Tanziania

The research conducted an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field survey, the results revealed that Tanzania is still lagging behind in the ICT sector due to the lack of an internationally connected terrestrial ICT infrastructure; Internet connectivity to the rest of the world is via expensive satellite links, thus leaving the majority of the population unable to access the Internet services due to its high cost. Therefore, an ICT backbone infrastructure is designed that exploits optical DWDM network technology, which un-locks bandwidth bottlenecks and provides higher capacity which will provide ICT services such as Internet, voice, videos and other multimedia interactions at an affordable cost to the majority of the people who live in the urban and rural areas of Tanzania. The research analyses and compares the performance, and system impairments, in a DWDM system at data transmission rates of 2.5 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s per wavelength channel. The simulation results show that a data transmission rate of 2.5 Gb/s can be successfully transmitted over a greater distance than 10 Gb/s with minimum system impairments. Also operating at the lower data rate delivers a good system performance for the required ICT services. A forty-channel DWDM system will provide a bandwidth of 100 Gb/s. A cost analysis demonstrates the economic worth of incorporating existing optical fibre installations into an optical DWDM network for the creation of an affordable ICT backbone infrastructure; this approach is compared with building a completely new optical fibre DWDM network or a SONET/SDH network. The results show that the ICT backbone infrastructure built with existing SSMF DWDM network technology is a good investment, in terms of profitability, even if the Internet charges are reduced to half current rates. The case for building a completely new optical fibre DWDM network or a SONET/SDH network is difficult to justify using current financial data

Optical Networks and the Future of Broadband Services

The evolution of broadband services will depend on the widespread deployment of optical networks. The deployment of such networks will, in turn, help drive increased demand for additional capacity. In this world, service providers will have a growing need to be able to flexibly adjust capacity to accommodate uncertain and growing demand. In this article, we present a cost model that highlights the advantages of new optical networking technologies such as Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) over traditional architectures for optical networks. This analysis highlights the increased flexibility and scalability of DWDM networks, which lowers the deployment costs of such networks in light of growing and uncertain demand. The DWDM architecture holds the promise of allowing the emergence of wavelength markets, where traffic could be switched between service provider networks at the optical layer (without the need for multiple costly and wasteful electronic/optical conversions). While the DWDM and Optical Cross-Connect (OxC) technologies provide a technical infrastructure for supporting wavelength markets, additional developments are also likely to be required. This paper also considers some of the impediments to the growth of wavelength markets, namely the need for secondary markets and standardized contracts

Ethernet - a survey on its fields of application

During the last decades, Ethernet progressively became the most widely used local area networking (LAN) technology. Apart from LAN installations, Ethernet became also attractive for many other fields of application, ranging from industry to avionics, telecommunication, and multimedia. The expanded application of this technology is mainly due to its significant assets like reduced cost, backward-compatibility, flexibility, and expandability. However, this new trend raises some problems concerning the services of the protocol and the requirements for each application. Therefore, specific adaptations prove essential to integrate this communication technology in each field of application. Our primary objective is to show how Ethernet has been enhanced to comply with the specific requirements of several application fields, particularly in transport, embedded and multimedia contexts. The paper first describes the common Ethernet LAN technology and highlights its main features. It reviews the most important specific Ethernet versions with respect to each application field’s requirements. Finally, we compare these different fields of application and we particularly focus on the fundamental concepts and the quality of service capabilities of each proposal