All-Optical Internet: Next-Generation Network Infrastructure for E-Service Applications

Abstract

To exploit the unprecedented opportunities offered by the E-Service Applications, businesses and users alike would need a highly-available, reliable, and efficient telecommunication infrastructure. This chapter provides an insight into building the next-generation network infrastructure, that is, the All-Optical Internet. It also reveals the factors driving the convergence of the Internet Protocol (IP) and the Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology. The chapter discusses the dominant optical networks architectures in an attempt to show the evolution towards the ultimate all-optical packet-switching network. A special focus is given to the Optical Burst Switching (OBS) as a new emerging switching paradigm and a highly promising technology. OBS network architecture, burst assembly, signaling and reservation protocols, QoS support, and contention resolution techniques are presented. Furthermore, realistic suggestions and strategies to efficiently deploy OBS are given.