Routed optical networks

Fri May 5 17:17:55 UTC 2023

> On May 2, 2023, at 5:11 PM, Etienne-Victor Depasquale <edepa at ieee.org> wrote:
> 
> I’ve seen proposals for an LSR MPLS/ROADAM type solution, where imagine you are at a hop where in a long distance system solution, you would end up with OEO, but instead you get directionality capability with an IP/MPLS capable device.  As mentioned previously, the 400-ZR/ZR+/ZR-Bright/+0 optics are the latest example of that.
> 
> Jared, I understand your point in the above statement to be that 
> directionality is cost-effectively implemented through label-switched paths, 
> rather than (ROADM-enabled) optical path switching. 
> 
> Do I understand right?

It might be based on the distances and bandwidth required, and the need or desire to have diverse paths.  Much of the economics of this vary based on the vendors and underlying either cost or pricing model.

I do believe a few more engineers would be aided with a TCO for networking once you add up all the costs, either internal or external.

We’ve seen the one-time-spend to build out the datacenter space exceed the cost of the equipment.  (Based on the number of XC/patch panel positions needed for example - which might be a direct expense while the hardware may be capitalized and depreciated over a period, also TCO to power on a device - it can be quite common for that to exceed the Capex as well).

- Jared