ENHANCING TRANSPORT NETWORKS WITH INTERNET PROTOCOLS

Transport networks are facing new challenges and opportunities because of the explosive growth of data traffic. Besides having to meet the e ver-increasing bandwidth demand, transport networks need to provide ne w functionalities for the support of data applications. For example, t hey should provide elastic data pipes which guarantee minimum bandwidt hs but also allow expansion when extra bandwidth is available. They sh ould support instant and automatic discovery and configuration of laye r 3 nodes which, traditionally, is possible only for LANs. Enhanced tr ansport systems with inherent packet multiplexing can meet these chall enges. It will be natural to use Internet protocols and technologies t o implement these packet transport systems, and thereby reuse much of the existing Internet infrastructure already widely deployed.