Investigating the interoperability between packet and optical transport platforms: “Black Link” (ITU-T G.698.2) and alternatives

Standard optical fiber has potential capacity of multiple Tbit/s. Efficient utilization of the already installed fiber infrastructure is of outmost importance. Starting with passive wavelength division multiplexing (pWDM) this paper discusses the potential solutions for a managed optical lambda or a complete optical transmission layer independent of the transceivers themselves. The problems from the operational point of view are tackled as well.