Nodal Architectures for Shared Mesh Restoration of IP and Wavelength Services

Future networks are expected to support heterogeneous traffic, including both Internet Protocol (IP) and wavelength services. IP services are typically restored using IP-layer rerouting mechanisms, whereas wavelength services are restored in the optical layer. With architectures where IP services are mapped into Layer-2 or time-division-multiplexing (TDM) protocols at the network edge, a common restoration mechanism can be utilized for both IP and wavelength services. This letter examines various nodal architectures that can be utilized to support such a unified restoration paradigm.