The MPLS WG Archive

["Holmes, David A." <David.A.Holmes@disney.com>]

See the article "Advances in Photonic Packet Switching: An Overview" (S.
Yao, B. Mukherjee, S. Dixit) in the February 2000 issue of IEEE
Communications Magazine, for an overview of some approaches to optical
buffering techniques.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: Yang Cao [mailto:yangcao@lucent.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 10:53 AM
To: Hull, Kenneth A.
Cc: 'Dmitri Krioukov'; Krishna Bala; Yakov Rekhter; Stewart Pu;
mpls@UU.NET
Subject: Re: Lambda Switching



I think that's only because a smarter and really practical solution
has not come up yet.

Yang

"Hull, Kenneth A." wrote:
> 
> I believe that true optical buffering without O-E-O conversion would have
to
> accomplished via an optical delay line (ie. a pre-determined length of
> fiber).
> 
> Ken
>         -----Original Message-----
>         From:   Dmitri Krioukov [SMTP:dima@krioukov.net]
>         Sent:   Wednesday, May 24, 2000 9:15 PM
>         To:     Krishna Bala; Yakov Rekhter; Stewart Pu
>         Cc:     mpls@UU.NET
>         Subject:        RE: Lambda Switching
> 
>         i have a question on optical buffering --
>         what are the available technologies here
>         or links/references to them? (to be more
>         precise: are they just pools of fiber
>         or specially designed mirror boxes, etc.)
> 
>         thanks,
>         --
>         dima.
> 
>         > -----Original Message-----
>         > From: owner-mpls@UU.NET [mailto:owner-mpls@UU.NET]On Behalf Of
> Krishna
>         > Bala
>         > Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 5:50 PM
>         > To: Yakov Rekhter; Stewart Pu
>         > Cc: mpls@UU.NET
>         > Subject: RE: Lambda Switching
>         >
>         >
>         > Stewart,
>         > If you define Optical Switching as the ability to switch large
> pipes in a
>         > circuit switched fashion .... yes, this is the core competence
of
> optics.
>         >
>         > If you define Optical Routing as the ability to switch
individual
> packets
>         > in a packet switched manner .... no, this is not the strength of
>         > optics. The
>         > biggest barrier to entry for optics here is the inability of
> optics to
>         > perform
>         > buffering. Large spools of fiber are used as "delay lines" to
> emulate
>         > buffering.
>         >
>         >
>         > Krishna Bala
>         > Tellium
>         >
>         > > -----Original Message-----
>         > > From: owner-mpls@UU.NET [mailto:owner-mpls@UU.NET]On Behalf Of
> Yakov
>         > > Rekhter
>         > > Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 1:06 PM
>         > > To: Stewart Pu
>         > > Cc: mpls@UU.NET
>         > > Subject: Re: Lambda Switching
>         > >
>         > >
>         > > Stewart,
>         > >
>         > > > I have a question about MPLS. Is it possible for MPLS using
>         > > lambda as the
>         > > > label? I mean, if DWDM technology can provide enough
available
>         > > lambda, can
>         > > > MPLS use lambda as the label?
>         > >
>         > > Yes. See draft-awduche-mpls-te-optical-01.txt.
>         > >
>         > > > If yes, can we say ' We can achieve optical switching or
>         > > optical routing.'?
>         > >
>         > > It depends on how you define "optical switching or optical
> routing".
>         > >
>         > > > But I ever heard that it is impossible to achieve optical
> routing,
>         > > > is it right?
>         > >
>         > > I guess folks who told you so may reconsider their opinion :-)
>         > >
>         > > Yakov.
>         > >
>         > >