Next Generation Networking in Transparent Optical Networks - Challenges and Opportunities

Next generation networking (NGN) was adopted by the World Telecommunications Standarisation Assembly in October 2004 as the official ITU (International Telecommunication Union) policy for the 2005-2008 study period. The fundamental difference between NGN and today's network is the shift from current `circuit-switched' networks to `packet-based' systems such as those using Internet Protocol (IP). Here we propose a combination of different communication technologies as connection and connectionless networks, optical cable and wireless (microwave/millimetre wave or optical wireless) suitable for a variety of purposes and services in order to enable quality of service guarantees in the next generation optical networking