Abstract

In Fumagalli and Tacca¹ the authors introduced the concept of Differentiated Reliability (DiR), applied to dedicated path protection switching in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) rings. By means of the DiR concept,a network can be designed to provide multiple degrees of reliability. It is thus possible to match the user-specific reliability requirement, yet minimizing the amount of standby resources required in the network, i.e., its total cost.When applied to Shared Path Protection (SPP) switching, the DiR concept is expected to achieve a cost reduction that is synergistic with the sharing of standby resources. The paper presents a theoretical study of the SPP-DiR design problem in an arbitrary (mesh) topology and illustrates the technological feasibility of the proposed concept using the Optical MEtro network for Gigabit Applications (Ω) test bed.

© 2002 Optical Society of America