Alternate architectures for an all-optical core network based on new subwavelength switching paradigms

New time-slotted subwavelength switching paradigms have been proposed as promising solutions to exploit the subwavelength bandwidth overcoming many limitations of traditional optical burst switching (OBS) schemes. Since these new paradigms are based on fix-sized bursts transmitted during time slots, the efficient assembly of IP packets into optical bursts is the first mile stone to reach in the way of the real deployment of all-optical transport networks based on them. Then, in this paper, we propose alternate architectures for implementing such networks and we assess them by studying the efficiency of several burst assembly policies. The study is performed by analyzing real internet traffic extracted from the national transport network of Orange. This is the first time to our knowledge that such study is performed. In this paper we identify the architectures that are viable, in terms of assembly process, for the deployment of such new paradigms in an all-optical core network.