Architectural and technological issues for future optical Internet networks

This article reports a review of the most significant issues related to net work architectures and technologies which will enable the realization of fu ture optical Internet networks. The design of such networks has to take int o consideration the peculiar characteristics of Internet traffic. Several a rchitectures have been proposed to provide optical networking solutions, ba sed on wavelength-division multiplexing and compatible with the IP world. T hese architectures are presented briefly, and the main advantages and drawb acks are discussed. Furthermore, advanced network architectures are reporte d. In particular, two network paradigms are illustrated and discussed: the optical transparent packet network and optical burst switching. Finally, th e key technologies are illustrated.