Cost reduction of reliable networks using load balanced routing

The routing based on load balancing and shortest path routing (LB-SPR) was recently introduced, and it was shown to have advantages over the standard shortest path routing (SPR) algorithms: it can support higher guaranteed traffic loads, and it simplifies the resource reservation processes. In this paper, the cost of setting up the reliable network which is resilient to node or link failures is analyzed. In such a network, enough capacity has to be provisioned on all the links for routing the traffic even in the case of a failure. The cost of setting up the reliable network using the shortest path routing (SPR) is compared to the cost of setting up the reliable network using the load balanced shortest path routing (LB-SPR). It is shown that LB-SPR can significantly decrease the network cost.