Challenges in the design of a 100 Gb/s Internet

A 100 Gb/s Internet can be implemented with 100 Gb/s links and switches. 100 Gb/s wavelength division multiplexed links are commercially available. Experimental time division multiplexed optical links have been demonstrated. Current memory based ATM switches are limited to 100 million packets a second while a 100 Gb/s link is equivalent to 230 million ATM packets per second. Current ATM switches will have to be organized into parallel multi stage switching fabric to distribute the load and the packet size will have to be lengthened.