Labeled optical burst switching for IP-over-WDM integration

The rapid pace of development in both Internet applications and emerging optical technologies is bringing about fundamental changes in networking philosophies. Key trends are the emergence of dynamic wavelength provisioning and a corresponding reduction in wavelength provisioning timescales. As this transition continues, the current use of the wavelength-routing paradigm for carrying bursty Internet traffic will likely suffer from various shortcomings associated with circuit-switched networks. Meanwhile, optical packet switching technology is still facing significant cost and technological hurdles. Recently, optical burst switching, or OBS, which represents a balance between circuit and packet switching, has opened up some exciting new dimensions in optical networking. This article describes the OBS paradigm, and also proposes the use of labeled OBS, or LOBS, as a natural control and provisioning solution under the ubiquitous IP multiprotocol label switching framework.