MPLS recovery mechanisms for IP-over-WDM networks

Due to the fast increase of Internet traffic and the enormous bandwidth pot ential of all-optical transport networks based on wavelength division multi plexing, an IP-over-WDM network scenario is likely to be widespread in futu re communication networks. At the same time, IP networks are becoming more and more mission-critical. Hence, it is of paramount importance for IP-over -WDM networks to be able to recover quickly from frequently occurring netwo rk failures. This paper explains how multi-protocol label switching (both e lectrical and optical) recovery mechanisms can be important to reach that g oal. Moreover, a novel MPLS recovery mechanism called fast topology-driven constrained-based rerouting is presented. Different MPLS recovery mechanism s are compared to each other. Special attention hereby goes to the addition al capacity that is required to recover from frequently occurring failures.