Hybrid circuit/packet networks with dynamic capacity partitioning

In this paper, we consider hybrid circuit/packet networks. A hybrid circuit/packet network consists of a circuit network co-existing with a packet network; generally the packet network is embedded on top of the circuit network. However, in certain cases such as the DOE energy sciences network (ESnet), the circuit network and the packet network are deployed side-by-side (e.g. they have common end-node sites and equipment), but they are logically separate and they may have physically disjoint links. Currently, there is no capacity sharing between the packet and the circuit sections of the networks. In this paper, we propose and investigate the characteristics of schemes that enable efficient capacity partitioning between packet and circuit networks while ensuring survivability and robustness of the services. We conduct simulative experiments on ESnet topology with realistic traffic demands. We observe that capacity partitioning between packet and circuit networks enables to support services with enhanced quality of service and robustness along with improved resource utilization.