JumpStart: a Just-in-Time Signaling Architecture for WDM Burst-Switched Networks

JumpStart: a Just-in-Time Signaling Architecture for WDM Burst-Switched Networks

Abstract

We present an architecture for a core dWDM network which utilizes the concept of Optical Burst Switching (OBS) coupled with a Just-In-Time (JIT) signaling scheme. It is a reservation based architecture whose distinguishing characteristics are its relative simplicity, its amenability to hardware implementation, support for quality of service and multicast natively. Another important feature is data transparency - the network infrastructure is independent of the format of the data being transmitted on individual wavelengths. In this article we present a brief overview of the architecture and outline the most salient features.