Zohra: Joint Routing and Manufacturer Assignment Problem

Network operators use components from multiple manufacturers to avoid a dependency on one manufacturer. This manufacturer diversity triggers a new problem in appropriately placing the components from different manufacturers in the topology, considering their cost and availability. This work aims to solve the Joint Routing and Manufacturer Assignment (JRMA) problem, where the operator's purchase cost does not exceed the budget while network availability is maximized using a Non-Linear Program (NLP). Zohra, the proposed solution, is applied to different topologies and traffic matrices and compared with other simpler centrality metrics-based heuristics, showing Zohra's advantage.