Free-space optoelectronic switching cores with MPLS for SANs over WDM ring networks

• Published in: Journal of optical communications and networking Vol. 4; no. 7; pp. 533 - 545
• Main Authors: Chou, H.-H, Pranggono, B., Wilkinson, T. D., Zhang, F., Crossland, W. A., Elmirghani, J. M. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.07.2012; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Architecture; Computer networks; Devices; Fabrics; Free-space optical switch; Information storage; Labels; Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS); Multiprotocol label switching; Network switching; Networks; Optical buffering; Optical packet switching; Optical switches; Product introduction; Storage area networks; Storage area networks (SANs); Switching; Switching theory; WDM ring network
• ISSN: 1943-0620; 1943-0639
• DOI: 10.1364/JOCN.4.000533

With increasing demands on storage devices in the modern communication environment, the storage area network (SAN) has evolved to provide a direct connection allowing these storage devices to be accessed efficiently. To optimize the performance of a SAN, a three-stage hybrid electronic/optical switching node architecture based on the concept of a MPLS label switching mechanism, aimed at serving as a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) ingress label edge router (LER) for a SAN-enabled application, has been designed. New shutter-based free-space multi-channel optical switching cores are employed as the core switch fabric to solve the packet contention and switching path conflict problems. The system-level node architecture design constraints are evaluated through self-similar traffic sourced from real gigabit Ethernet network traces and storage systems. The extension performance of a SAN over a proposed WDM ring network, aimed at serving as an MPLS-enabled transport network, is also presented and demonstrated.