Global path and bandwidth scheduling in inter-data-center IP/optical transport network

•We allow each data flow to be carried by a multi-path ODU channel.•We allocate elastic bandwidth for each flow according to its weight, in order to maintain fairness between these flows.•Global path and bandwidth scheduling for all the flows by the global controller.

We propose a flow-oriented global path and bandwidth scheduling scheme for inter-data-center IP/optical network. To improve the throughput of network and reduce the mutual impact between flows, we allow each flow to be carried by a multi-path optical channel data unit (ODU) channel. In addition bandwidth is allocated to flows fairly according to weight. Simulation results reveal that compared to high-priority-first mechanism, the method proposed improves average bandwidth allocation ratio by about 15% and allocation fairness between flows by 30%. Furthermore, compared to pure IP network, router ports are significantly saved and network cost can be reduced by up to 40% with scheme proposed in unified controlled IP/optical network.