Light-trails: a novel conceptual framework for conducting optical communications

We propose a solution for implementing a conceptual framework for catering to dynamic traffic in the optical domain. The solution, called light-trails, coalesces a hardware platform and software protocol for realizing efficient optical communications from IP bursts to lightpaths. It is a paradigm shift from conventional optical communication modes, in supporting, amongst others, very fast lightpath setup and tear down - burst communication - and presenting a novel approach to bandwidth management and provisioning for dynamically configurable networks and a first solution to support multicasting, a key element for many of the central motivator services for optical capacity needs. Contrary to existing proposals for IP type communication, bursts etc., it also presents the first practically implementable solution to enable burst transport with mature and off-the-shelf technology and eased switching requirements.