Bringing Packet and Optical together

At the turn of the century, the world was a different
place. The vision for telecommunication networks
seemed to be clear: an intelligent, all-IP packet
network supporting multiple IP-based services
delivered directly over fiber.

Fast forward to today and it would appear that the
vision has been achieved, at least if you look at core
networks: IP over WDM is a reality and can be directly
deployed using core router interface modules. Yet in
metro and access networks, the rise of Carrier
Ethernet and Connection-Oriented Packet Switching
have challenged that vision, and now dominate
network and system architectural debates.

This is not just a technology debate. Carriers have
legitimate concerns with regard to the manageability
and operation of large packet networks. They
recognize that their success to date is based on
SONET/SDH transport networks, which also underlie
the majority of packet networks. Transport of Ethernet
directly over SONET/SDH has also proven successful.
What many carriers desire is a continuation of this
success in a fully packet-based context making use of
the latest developments in connection-oriented
Ethernet and the scalability of OTN and ROADM-
based WDM networks.

This is the basis for P-OTN

or Packet Optical

Transport Networks.

P-OTN:

Packet Optical Network Transformation

1) P-OTN (Packet Optical Transport Network) is the integration of packet networking technologies such as Ethernet and MPLS

with optical network technologies such as WDM and ROADM. P-OTN provides the network infrastructure for NGN and
supports multiple services including Carrier Ethernet.

However, with the inexorable growth in traffic,
tighter integration of Ethernet with optical
networks is desirable, in order to drive cost
efficiencies and economy of scale. P-OTN
promises to reduce capacity costs and network
complexity, while improving scalability and
flexibility.

To better understand the driving forces and
benefits of P-OTN, TPACK is providing this white
paper which addresses the different approaches to
P-OTN, including information on how TPACK can
assist equipment vendors in capitalizing on the
opportunities these technologies provide.

TPACK is focused on providing solutions that
enable the transport of Ethernet data across
telecommunication networks with Carrier Class
quality. Ethernet over SONET/SDH and Ethernet
over MPLS (including VPLS and PWE3) have
proven to be the most popular methods to date.