Opaque WDM optical-crossconnect networks

In response to the recent lurch in data-networking demand, we are speedily moving from core long-haul telecommunications networks whose fibers transport tens of 45-Mb/s signals to systems whose fibers transport tens of wavelengths. This sudden leap places a massive burden on current mechanisms for restoring the network in the event of failures, and will rapidly come to overtax available mechanisms for provisioning new connections. Thus, as WDM transmission technology is deployed, it becomes increasingly important to find ways of extracting value from it in the form of enhanced provisioning and restoration functionality.