Efficient protection and grooming architectures for future optical networks

Today networks are too cumbersome due to the incoherent integration of various technologies developed over time. Convergence of data, voice, and video has caused the retro-fitting of a network to support non-native traffic types and this has led to sub-par performance for every traffic type. Fundamental changes are warranted to support high bandwidth traffic. The network must guarantee end-to-end delivery and provide inherent protection within the physical structure. We propose that the main traffic types of today´s applications should be carried using the following features: connection-oriented service, traffic grooming to fill those connection oriented pipes, and forward error recovery with protection provided in the physical layer. We present some of our research results.