UltraFlow access networks: A dual-mode solution for the access bottleneck

Optical Flow Switching (OFS) is promised to be an efficient solution for large Internet data transfers. In this paper, we introduce UltraFlow Access, a novel optical access network architecture that offers dual-mode service to its end-users: IP and OFS. With UltraFlow Access, we design and implement a new control plane and a novel dual-mode network stack to ensure efficient connection setup, and reliable and optimal data transmission. Experimental testbed results demonstrate concurrent error-free transmission of 10 Gbps per-wavelength OFS and 1.25 Gbps conventional IP, delivered over the same infrastructure.