Photonic infrastructure for grid enabling networks

The paper discusses novel solutions towards a long-reach intelligent infrastructure for grid networking, taking advantage of recent developments in optical networking technologies. Optical burst switching, a grid user network interface and a grid resource network interface, utilizing fast tuneable optical technologies, provide a physical infrastructure able to fulfil the grid application requirements and make efficient use of network resources. Furthermore, a control and management plane based on extensions of existing artefacts is proposed for peer-to-peer distributed networking to enable grid services.