Abstract

Protection wavelengths make up a significant portion of the bandwidth in the backbone network, and methodologies used to optimize this bandwidth can seem compelling. By sharing protection, the number of lambda kilometers in the network decreases, therefore reducing effective amplifier and fiber costs. Although sharing bandwidth is an effective way to reduce line costs, there is an offsetting cost as additional interfaces are needed at intermediate sites to enable access to the shared protection bandwidth. This paper compares the trade-offs between two architectures, an electrical-optical network architecture (EON) and an all-optical network architecture (AON). Both architectures are investigated with shared and dedicated protection schemes.

© 2002 Optical Society of America