A broad view on overspill routing in optical networks: a real synthesis of packet and circuit switching?

The emerging wavelength switched networks reduce the strain on packet forwarding. Unfortunately, that solution is not really efficient on a bandwidth level, and is not ideally suited for bursty traffic. Packet switched solutions, whether electronic or optical, can use statistical multiplexing to cope with bursty traffic and yield better bandwidth efficiency. We present a novel network concept that can combine these two worlds, withholding their advantages. We introduce this Overspill Routing In Optical Networks (ORION), and discuss several aspects of it: the overall architecture and network concept, node design and implementation, and evaluation at network level as well as node level.