Integrated controller for routing / switching network and underlying optical transport system

摘要

Techniques for providing closed-loop control and predictive analytics in packet-optical networks are described. For example, an integrated centralized controller is described that provides tightly-integrated, closed-loop control over components of a routing/switching network (e.g., IP/MPLS) and also the underling optical transport system, including routing wavelength and spectrum assignment. The controller adaptively and proactively maps packet flows into network resources of a routing/switching network and control, based on the mapping, allocation and utilization of optical spectrum and wavelengths within the optical transport system underlying the routing and switching network.

主权项

1. A system comprising:
a routing and switching network having a plurality of interconnected layer three (L3) routing components and layer two (L2) switching components for communicating packet-based network traffic; a plurality of packet-optical transport devices interconnected to form an optical transport system and coupled to the routing and switching system for optically transporting the network traffic between the routing and switching components; and a controller comprising:
a path computation element to compute paths for the network traffic through the routing and switching network;a software defined networking control module to communicate updated routing information to the routing components of the routing and switching network to control packet flows through the routing and switching network in accordance with the computed paths; anda routing wavelength and spectrum assignment control module to that configures the packet-optical transport devices to operate at particular wavelengths in response to the updated routing information and bandwidth requirements for the network traffic.