Digital Optical Networks

Maximizing Network Reconfigurability and Service Flexibility

Infinera has introduced a new optical transport architecture, the Digital Optical Network, that leverages fundamental advances in both large-scale photonic integration and optical system architecture to create a disruptive shift in network architecture and economics. A Digital Optical Network enables carriers to deploy an optical service platform into metro, regional and long haul core transport networks to simplify planning, engineering, and operations; accelerate turnup and time-to-service; and make service delivery much more flexible. This paper describes how a digital optical architecture maximizes service flexibility and network reconfigurability, and improves forecast tolerance to new services and changes in service demands.

From Digital to Analog

The past few years have seen the introduction and wide-spread implementation of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) systems, first in long-haul networks, followed by use in metro and regional networks. In all cases, a key driver for these deployments arose from the need to scale network capacity beyond that which was possible with SONET/SDH Add/Drop Multiplexers (ADMs) operating at either 2.5Gb/s or 10Gb/s. WDM reduced bandwidth cost, but replaced digital transport with an analog optical network. In addition, metro WDM systems also provided the only means for service providers to offer end-user connectivity for native Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), Fibre Channel, FICON and 2.5Gb/s and 10Gb/s transparent services, provisioned directly over wavelengths. This has allowed metro service providers to provide value-added high-bandwidth services for enterprise remote storage connectivity, inter-campus LANs, ISP data centers, and interconnections between backbone and metro Points of Presence (PoPs) and carrier hotels. However as operators migrated their broadband service platforms from SONET/SDH digital transport systems to WDM systems, optical transport networks became increasingly analog, relying on the amplification, manipulation and management of wavelengths, rather than of digital bits as used to be the case. In becoming increasingly analog, WDM networks lost the plug and play engineering simplicity of SONET/SDH systems, and required operators to consider many new technology issues such as optical reach, dispersion, optical Performance Monitoring (PM), wavelength banding, power levels, wavelength planning, and the number of end-to-end nodal hops between service end points. Todays analog WDM networks are at odds with carriers service needs. In other words, the end-to-end service provisioning, centralized management, digital PMs and ease of sub-wavelength grooming of SONET/SDH systems was lost, having been exchanged for wavelength scalability and transparency. These inherent trade-offs are often at odds with service providers business models and network requirements. Ideally, network operators seek a common, robust, cost-effective service platform that enables them to solve todays challenges, including ever greater network complexity and increased competitive challenges, while meeting customers new service requirements. Such a service platform must therefore address the following issues: Capacity: A next-generation broadband service platform must inherently scale beyond the 10Gb/s capacity limitation of OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH systems, and offer WDM capacity to 40 wavelengths, and beyond. In addition, it must support service interfaces beyond 10Gb/s, such as emerging 40Gb/s and future 100Gb/s Gigabit Ethernet services. Reconfiguration: Forecast tolerant networks must be easily reconfigurable to support unplanned or changing service demands, and eliminate fixed bandwidth allocation between customer sites. Ideally, service providers will be able to provision any service, from any node, to any customer, without complex and costly re-engineering of the network. Services: Operators require a common service platform that supports both

The various needs of carriers should not be traded off against each other.

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Carriers need Reconfigurability and capacity Service flexibility and bandwidth efficiency Operational savings and highly reliable networks

existing TDM services, from OC-3/STM-1 to OC-192/STM-64, and a wide range of data and storage service interfaces including Gigabit Ethernet, 10GE, Fibre Channel, ESCON/FICON; with the ability to easily support additional new service interfaces as required. Also important is future architecture support for intelligent optical services based on standardized inter-network signaling and control. Flexibility: Each network node must support sub-wavelength aggregation and multiplexing from OC-3/STM-1 to 10Gb/s across all directions, and also enable bandwidth grooming both within, and across wavelengths, in response to changing service patterns and network usage. Efficiency: A metro transport platform must be able to maximize capacity efficiency and offer the lowest cost per managed bit, by operating at 10Gb/s per wavelength, while also minimizing the need for sub-tending equipment when aggregating multiple lower order sub-10Gb/s services. Reliability: Operators to must not only track end-user Service Level Agreements (SLAs), but must also ensure that networks provide 99.999% availability for business-critical applications. This requires an infrastructure that facilitates accurate and robust performance monitoring (PM), provides preemptive alarming, facilitates rapid fault identification and isolation, and provides the option for rapid sub-50 millisecond protection for any service.

Any new service platform must inherently reduce all aspects of operational costs.

Management: Any carrier-grade broadband service platform must provide centralized real-time network management. A robust standards-compliant control plane is necessary to enable automated end-to-end service provisioning to rapidly respond to changes in network status and customer demands. Finally, operators must provide their end-customers the option of customer network management (CNM) for service turn-up, management, and monitoring of network performance and alarms. Operational Simplicity: In addition to all the requirements above, a nextgeneration network must significantly simplify all aspects of an operators network architecture and operations, including network planning, engineering, installation, turn-up, capacity growth, spares, power, space, training and documentation. Recent advances in WDM technology have tried to alleviate some of the constraints inherent in early systems which limited many of the above requirements from being adequately addressed. The most prominent of these has been the development of Reconfigurable Optical ADMs (ROADMs) for use in both metro and long-haul WDM systems to allow any wavelength and per wavelength access at any node, thereby accelerating service delivery and simplifying wavelength planning. However when using ROADMs operators are still required to engineer the end-to-end analog wavelength path between the service ingress and egress points on the network, and must contend with all the wavelength planning issues inherent in alloptical systems. In addition, ROADMs do not address the need for sub-wavelength service management, grooming, and add/drop. Finally, current WDM systems do not

New all-optical technologies such as ROADMs perpetuate analog engineering issues inherent in todays WDM networks.

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offer the robust digital PMs, network diagnostics, and end-to-end service management capabilities inherent in SONET/SDH networks, and in many cases are not inherently service-ready for future 40Gb/s and 100GE services. In all cases, the governing industry assumption underlying all WDM technology development has been that add/drop must be done all optically, as the use of digital repeaters to implement Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) signal conversion and manipulation in the electronic domain, as in SONET/SDH transport, would be prohibitively expensive. This paradigm has in fact been correct; until now!

Introducing Digital Optical Networks

Large-scale Photonic Integration enables ultralow cost OEOs, and Digital Optical Networks. A Digital Optical Network re-defines metro, regional and long-haul optical networks by combining the capacity of WDM with the traffic management, provisioning flexibility, engineering simplicity and reliability of digital transport systems. The implementation of a Digital Optical Network is uniquely enabled through the development of large-scale Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) which monolithically integrate upwards of sixty or more discrete optical components onto an optical circuit (see figure 1). This allows the construction of a WDM system on a chip with a PIC capacity of 100Gb/s today, and more in the future. This unprecedented level of optical component integration and packaging consolidation brings to the industry what has long eluded it, ultra-low cost OEOs, and for the first time brings the economics of Moores Law to optical networking.

A Digital Optical Network combines the benefits of digital transport with the scale of WDM.

Figure 1: Large-scale Photonic Integrated Circuits enable monolithic integration of over 60 discrete optical components.

These developments now make it feasible for service providers to cost-effectively implement digital transport within the WDM layer of the network, and avoid the analog optical engineering compromises imposed by current metro and long-haul WDM technologies. In addition, the use of cost-effective OEO at each node leverages the capabilities of silicon electronics and system software to provide value-added service functions such as sub-wavelength multiplexing, grooming and add/drop to maximize service delivery flexibility and enable rapid network reconfiguration. In addition, digital

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transport re-equips operators with the comprehensive digital OA&M and performance monitoring capabilities required to provide accurate network diagnostics and end-to-end service management of all end-user services. Key network functions are cost-effectively enabled by software and electronics not complex optical components. The fundamental building block of a Digital Optical Network is the Digital Node (see figure 2). A Digital Node provides high capacity WDM optical transport and full subwavelength add/drop and bandwidth management of optical payloads, using a switching architecture similar to that of a SONET/SDH ADM, but within the WDM layer. This enables bandwidth management of transparent broadband services across the full WDM capacity of the network, providing truly hitless sub-wavelength provisioning and grooming of customer circuits at every node. Service add/drop is done simply by adding client-side interfaces and cross-connecting via the electronic switch to/from the WDM line operating at 10Gb/s per wavelength. In the process of providing frequent cost-effective digital access, a Digital Optical Network reduces the analog optical portions of the network to allow plug and play deployment and operation, and significantly simplifies network planning, engineering, installation and operation.

A Digital Node provides cost-effective digital access for: - digital PMs - sub - grooming - simple add/drop - flexible network reconfiguration

Figure 2: A Digital Node provides cost-effective OEO conversion, allowing electronic access and manipulation of network traffic.

Digital Optical Network Benefits

Forecast-Tolerant Capacity The WDM line-side capacity of a Digital Node is provisioned in increments of 100Gb/s, using large-scale photonic integrated circuits that combine ten wavelengths operating at 10Gb/s each into a single system circuit pack. Thus a Digital Node supporting 400Gb/s

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A Digital Node maximizes add/drop flexibility and reconfigurability required by changing and unplanned service demands.

of WDM capacity can be built using only four WDM circuit packs, yielding important savings in space and power, simplifying nodal fiber management, and reducing installation complexity and cost. In addition, the cost savings of PICs allows highly costeffective deployment of network capacity in increments of 100Gb/s, thereby increasing service velocity when adding new customers, and reducing the cost and complexity associated with channel growth in typical WDM systems where capacity is deployed 10Gb/s at a time. Unconstrained Network Reconfiguration The advent of the Digital Node finally brings to high-capacity optical transport networks the capability to provide true unconstrained in-service reconfiguration of any WDM node. This allows service providers to respond quickly, cost-effectively, and without service interruption to changes in customers service demands and bandwidth forecasts. A Digital Node can be seamlessly provisioned to provide add/drop anywhere from zero to 100% of the WDM line capacity, allowing new customers to be connected to existing network sites without the need to pre-allocate wavelengths or re-engineer nodes due to wavelength banding constraints, as is common in current WDM systems. Any subwavelength SONET/SDH or data service can be dropped at any node simply by equipping the required service interface, without the need to separately order a wide variety of sub-tending aggregation or multiplexing platforms. Finally, because all WDM capacity is digitally accessible at all nodes, capacity planning and wavelength engineering are simplified using the capability for sub-wavelength grooming available at each Digital Node. Supporting New and Existing Services

New and existing services are supported through a wide range of interface options.

A Digital Node inherently separates the WDM line optics from the client-side tributary optics, allowing a wide variety of end-user service interfaces to be implemented without any impact on system design, network engineering, service continuity, or bandwidth efficiency. A Digital Node can support interfaces for legacy SONET/SDH TDM services from OC-3/STM-1 to OC-192/STM-64, emerging data services such as Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) LAN PHY and WAN PHY, and Fibre Channel and FICON Storage Area Network (SAN) services. In addition, since the line capacity of a Digital Node is provisioned in increments of 100Gb/s of virtual capacity, a Digital Optical Network provides a future-proof platform to support future ultra-broadband services such as 40Gb/s SONET/SDH, or 100Gb/s Gigabit Ethernet, without changes to network engineering rules or network architecture. Bandwidth Management Flexibility Digital bandwidth management capabilities inherent to a Digital Optical Network enable sub-wavelength bandwidth grooming using electronic switching at each Digital Node. The ability to connect any client service to any portion of the WDM bandwidth thereby avoids either stranding wavelengths, as can happen in banded WDM add/drop architectures. End-to-end cross-connection of client services to the WDM capacity can be remotely and automatically provisioned without requiring manual rebalancing of optical amplifier gain and wavelength power levels when adding or dropping wavelengths, as is typical of all existing analog WDM systems. An Infinera Digital

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Digital add/drop eliminates the complex network planning and engineering inherent in ROADMs.

Optical Network therefore reduces add/drop provisioning time and engineering complexity compared to systems which require a truck roll and often a complex provisioning operation to equip new transponders or optical add/drop filters across the network. The integration of optical transport and bandwidth management within a Digital Node significantly enhances and simplifies the ability of the optical layer to provide value-added management of broadband services for carriers and large enterprise customers, and results in considerable equipment savings over solutions that tie add/drop of services to a specific, dedicated wavelength. Maximizing Network Efficiency The inherent ability of a Digital Node to provide sub-wavelength access to the entire WDM capacity of the network thereby allows operators to extract the required customer service from any wavelength, for example an OC-3, GbE, Fibre Channel, or STM-16, while maximizing bandwidth efficiency by operating at 10Gb/s per wavelength. This reduces the need for external aggregation or multiplexing systems at the edges of the network, or for optical cross connects (OXC) within the core for wavelength grooming of pass-through circuits. In contrast, todays metro and long-haul WDM systems, including new all-optical ROADM-based systems, often dedicate each service to a wavelength, leading to considerable bandwidth inefficiency when required to transport moderate bandwidth services such as GbE, Fibre Channel, or OC-48/STM-16. This forces network operators to make one of two compromises for sub-10Gb/s services. Either they dedicate a wavelength to each service, such as a GbE or OC-48, in which case they reduce the bandwidth efficiency of their DWDM system by 75% or more compared to operating at 10Gb/s per wavelength. Or they can deploy an OEO interface, such as SONET-on-a-blade or thin mux, to improve bandwidth efficiency per wavelength. However this limits grooming and aggregation to within a single 10Gb/s wavelength, and imposes an expensive and inefficient wavelength point-to-point architecture, since the same OEO interface must be deployed at every node where any sub-wavelength add/drop is required.

Network control and reliability is significantly enhanced through robust digital PMs at every node.

Enhancing Network Reliability The implications of re-introducing the benefits of SONET/SDH-like digital transport within metro and long-haul WDM networks are profound for carriers. With the deployment of a Digital Optical Network they regain the protection and monitoring capabilities that have made SONET/SDH networks highly reliable and manageable. In other words, Digital Optical Networks not only address the desire for service reconfiguration targeted by ROADM systems, but also provide much greater manageability, network diagnostics, and robust protection capabilities. Ultra-low cost digital regeneration at each Digital Node enables frequent signal clean-up and performance monitoring (PM) through electronic access to digital wrapper or SONET/SDH overhead. This provides valuable information on network performance to allow faster and more accurate fault identification and trouble-shooting to ensure service providers provide the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) demanded by their customers. In addition, a Digital Node can provide a wide range of optical layer protection options for individual sub-wavelengths services, including Dedicated 1+1 Optical Path Protection Ring (O-UPSR), Y-Cable Protection with O-UPSR, Shared protection rings, and 1:N linear section restoration.

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End-to-End Service Management The bandwidth management capabilities of a Digital Node enables a subtle, but important step forward in end-to-end network management; by incorporating a distributed control plane for the optical transport layer, a Digital Optical Network provides unparalleled end-to-end service management and automated service provisioning capabilities to increase service velocity and customer satisfaction. Infineras Digital Optical Network incorporates a GMPLS control plane to support automated topology discovery, dynamic point and click automated service provisioning, allowing end-to-end remote activation of 1G, 2.5G and 10G circuits within the WDM network layer. A distributed GMPLS control plane also provides the foundation for introducing mesh-based service restoration capabilities, as well as secure, reliable, end-to-end, multi-domain bandwidth on demand UNI and optical VPN services, based on standards defined by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the ITU-T standards for Automatically Switched Optical Networks (ASON), G.8080, and Automatically Switched Transport Networks (ASTN), allowing service providers to evolve their optical networks into true broadband service delivery platforms. Operational Simplicity of Digital The implications of re-introducing the benefits of SONET/SDH-like digital transport within metro and long-haul WDM networks are profound for carriers. With the deployment of a Digital Optical Network they regain the ability to deliver a broad range of new and existing broadband services at every node, without being constrained by the number of hops a service takes across the network; what percentage of add/drop is possible per site; complex wavelength planning and engineering; and without needing highly accurate service forecasts. They also regain the network performance, protection and control that have made SONET/SDH networks highly reliable and manageable. In other words, Digital Optical Networks not only address the desire for service reconfiguration targeted by ROADM systems, but with much greater flexibility, manageability and simplicity. Through the use of large-scale photonic integrated circuits that enable WDM on a chip, carriers are able to cost-effectively deploy optical networks in increments of 100Gb/s, thereby significantly reducing the many costs associated with initial system deployment, incremental channel growth, space and power consumption, sparing and training. Taken together, these benefits will allow forward-looking metro, national and international service providers deploying Digital Optical Networks to rapidly meet new and changing customer demands for broadband services, while in the process lowering their capital budgets and simplifying their network operations.

A GMPLS control plane enables end-to-end service management and provisioning.

A Digital Optical Network simplifies all aspects of carrier operations.

Implementing a Digital Optical Network

A Digital Optical Network defines a new network architecture concept that integrates the robustness, flexibility and end-to-end service management of digital transport with the capacity of WDM and economics of large-scale photonic integration. The implementation of a Digital Optical Network provides carriers with significant operational, architecture, and economic benefits.

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Digital Optical Networks provide a common, costeffective core service platform for metro, regional and long haul applications.

The feature richness, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a Digital Node enables the use of a profit-enabling, common system platform across a wide range of metro, regional and long-haul network applications to reach more customers, more cost-effectively, with better performance, while unifying network architecture and simplifying operations. In metro and regional networks, Digital Nodes can be deployed to increase network capacity, enable rapid remote nodal reconfiguration, and allow on-demand, in-service add/drop of any service through a wide range of interfaces. In long-haul and ultra longhaul (ULH) networks, a Digital Optical Network can be implemented incrementally on a route-by-route basis where required to increase capacity, expand connectivity, simplify engineering and operations, or to cost-effectively increase a service providers addressable market by increasing the number of on-net sites. Digital Optical Networks can be extended in a building block fashion as required by network growth or service requirements, to create a distance-insensitive service delivery platform, irrespective of capacity, service type, geographical scale or network topology that meets todays, and tomorrows, market requirements.

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Specifications subject to change without notice. Document Number: DS-005.003/0106 Copyright 2004-2006 Infinera Corporation. All rights reserved. Infinera DTN, IQ, and Digital Optical Networking are trademarks of Infinera Corporation.

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