SC171 Introduction to Optical Control Plane Concepts, Technologies and Practices

Sunday, March 22, 2009
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Greg Bernstein; Grotto Networking, USA
Level: Beginner (no background or minimal training is necessary to understand course material)

Course Description

This course introduces optical control plane concepts, technologies and practices. Three key factors have pushed the deployment of control plane technologies into optical transport networks. First, optical transport networks have grown in capacity (DWDM) and number of elements deployed. Second, to remain competitive carriers need to dynamically allocate expensive or limited optical resources to their customers. Third, element management systems from different equipment vendors tend not to interoperate. These factors have lead to the emergence of the optical control plane and its deployment in carrier networks as a key supplement to existing management systems.

Key concepts in the optical control plane to be covered include neighbor discovery, link verification, rapid provisioning, dissemination of reachability information, dissemination of topology and resource status information, and path computation. We will review the key standards for the optical control plane from the IETF, ITU and the OIF. Examples from both TDM based optical networks and transparent optical networks consisting of ROADMs will be given. Deployment options and additional restoration (beyond linear and ring) functionality will also be discussed.

Benefits and Learning Objectives

This course should enable you to:

  • Compare and contrast the use of these new control plane based standards with Element Management System (EMS) based approaches.
  • List the key organizations involved in determining optical control plane standards or agreements and their relationships.
  • Describe the differences and similarities in the control of TDM and transparent optical networks.
  • Describe the protocols used in the optical control plane in terms of their heritage and functionality.
  • Describe the purpose of neighbor discovery.
  • Explain the use of link state route protocols as applied to optical networks.
  • Discuss the differences between datagram and optical routing with regard to service impact and standardization.
  • Summarize and justify the functionality provided by the basic components of the optical control plane.

Intended Audience

This course is an introductory course on optical control plane standards. As such it assumes familiarity with SDH/SONET and WDM technology. Its emphasis will be on explaining the various control plane protocols to those with minimal prior experience in the areas of signaling or routing.

Biography

Greg Bernstein is chief consultant for Grotto Networking, specializing in optical network control and management planes. He was senior director for software engineering development at Lightera Networks (acquired by Ciena Corp.), where he led the development of intelligent optical switches. He earned his doctor of philosophy, master of science and bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.