Extending the Argia software with a dynamic optical multicast service to support high performance digital media

Data-intensive high performance, high quality digital media traffic cannot be accommodated on traditional Layer 3 networks. Alternative technologies to transmit this traffic through the network, such as optical multicast, are being investigated. A prototype of an optical multicast service was showcased during the 7th Annual LambdaGrid Workshop celebrated in Prague last September. The prototype used Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technology as the data plane and Argia (the evolution of UCLP) as the control/service plane. This paper describes the extensions that were done to the Argia Software to provide the Dynamic Optical Multicast Service and shows the results achieved during the Prague demonstration.