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[IP-Optical] RE: Optical link bundling. Was Re: Draft Minutes FromPittsburgh

  • From: Grenville Armitage <gja@research.bell-labs.com>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 09:56:56 -0700
  • Organization: Bell Labs Research Silicon Valley


darren.freeland@bt.com wrote:
	[..]
> ATM is not the OTN.

When MPLS first burst onto the ATM scene, there was much talk of being
able to run ATM switches in a ships-in-the-night mode, partitioning
the VCI/VPI space into blocks for allocation by PNNI and LDP(et al).

The analogy with IP/ATM is pertinent in so far as we all thought ATM
networks would be primarly built for other 'telco' services (migrating
across from wherever...) and that IP would be just another client.
For some ATM installations this was no doubt quite true, and the
'overlay' model a compelling solution. Yet for those people buying
ATM gear primarily to haul IP traffic around their region(s), it
seemed equally likely that optimizing the ATM control plane for a
single 'client' (IP) was acceptable.

I'm not sure it is constructive to insist there is an absolute
either/or case to be made for IP/optics. Certainly for work coming
out of the IETF environment it is hardly surprising the focus is
on IP as the client layer. But this isn't the same as saying an
OTN must be built as the IETF wants it. Ships-in-the-night is
still feasible on boxes that switch lamdas, timeslots, ...

cheers,
gja
________________________________________________________________________
Grenville Armitage                    http://members.home.net/garmitage/
Bell Labs Research Silicon Valley