IP and Optical domains?

Mon Jun 20 07:09:14 UTC 2016

On 19/Jun/16 03:28, Glen Kent wrote:

> Mikael,
>
> Thanks. I was looking at a technical problem. I say this because you may
> not have this problem when both are networks are being run by the same
> vendor equipment, say Alcatel-Lucent (or Nokia now).

Even then.

This isn't the first time the industry has tried to collapse Transport +
IP into a single system.

Many of us will remember the days of IPoDWDM. That flopped. Then came
GMPLS, which flopped even more.

That said, the hunt should not stop, and there probably is value for
networks that run both their own Transport + IP infrastructure.

For networks that lease all of their transport, not sure how this will
help as transport providers will not open their networks up to 3rd party
IP networks.

>  What are the technical
> problems because of which ISPs need to over-provision when there are IP and
> optical domains involved. OR rather let me rephrase my question --  what is
> the technical challenge involved in setting up an end to end path between
> two IP domains that have an optical domain in between.

It's two different expenses. If routers made good DWDM switches, this
would not be much of a problem, but they don't. So you need to two teams
managing two different sets of kit and opex, which is what the industry
has been trying to solve for some time now. How do we collapse both of
these cost centres into one manageable expense, considering that the
primary reason transport networks exist and expand today is to carry IP
traffic?

Mark.