Chapter Summary and Review

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Is That All There Is?

Although the advent of the control plane is a major advance in networking, the concept and power behind GMPLS are by no means “all there is.” Several protocols are under review, and more new protocols are to be written. The Optical User Interface (OPI) must be developed and tested further, as must LMP. The challenge for the future will be to get all the protocols and interfaces developed and tested.

The Future

GMPLS will further extend the reach of MPLS via the control plane, allowing it to reach into other networks and provide for centralized control and management of these networks. It will bring greater flexibility to somewhat rigid optical networks and provide carriers with centralized management and control. Provisioning of network resources, which (as of this writing) is still done manually, will soon be automated through GMPLS.

Who Are the Players?

The list of participants reads like a “Who’s Who” in telecom and datacom networking combined. A short list can be obtained from the referenced Internet drafts; however, this list is only a partial one because it includes neither the contributors in the ITU nor those from other associations and working groups.

For your convenience, here is a short list of some of the major players in GMPLS:

Accelight Networks Inc.: www.accelight.com

Alcatel: www.alcatel.com

AT&T: www.att.com

Axiowave: www.axiowave.com

Calient Networks Inc.: www.calient.net/

Ciena Corp.: www.ciena.com

Cisco Systems Inc.: www.cisco.com

Cisco: www.cisco.com

Edgeflow: www.metanoia.com

Juniper: www.juniper.net/

Metanoia: www.matanoia.com

Movaz Networks Inc.: www.movaz.com

Nayna: www.nayna.com

NetPlane Systems Inc.: www.netplane.com/

Nortel Networks Corp.: www.nortelnetworks.com

Polaris Networks: www.polarisnetworks.com

QOptics Inc.: www.q-optics.com

Sycamore Networks Inc.: www.sycamorenet.com

Tellium Inc.: www.tellium.com

Turin: www.turinnetworks.com

Zaffire: www.zaffire.com

Standards

In order to accomplish the goal of GMPLS, several standard organizations must get together. The Sub-IP group (www.ietf.org/html.charters/wg-dir.html) of the IETF has formed several working groups who collectively (and diligently) have written 37 draft GMPLS Standards (visit http://search.ietf.org/search/cgi-bin/BrokerQuery.pl.cgi?broker=internet-drafts&query=gmpls&caseflag=on&wordflag=off&errorflag=0&maxlineflag=50&maxresultflag=1000&descflag=on&sort=by-NML&verbose=on&maxobjflag=75). The working groups are known as Common Control And Management Plane Working Group (CCAMP); Internet Traffic Engineering, IP over Optical (TEWG); General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP); IP over Resilient Packet Ring (IPORPR); and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS).

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU; www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com15/aap/table-sg15aap.html) is addressing several standards and recommendations, including G.705, G.707, G.709, G.7713/Y.1704, G.7714/Y.1705, G.7712/Y.1703, G.783, G.8030, G.8050, G.871, G.872, G.8070, G.8080, G.959.1.

These are only of the few documents that will support GMPLS. In addition to these documents, several manufacturers are producing their own proposals and recommendations.

Does that mean that GMPLS will never get off the ground? Not at all. With the endorsements of Optical Domain Service Interconnect Coalition (ODSI; www.odsi-coalition.com/) and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF; www.oiforum.com/), it is off to a great start.

The benefits are great. These advances in networking mean savings for carriers. With GMPLS, the two separate paths of datacom and telecom have converged.

Knowledge Review 

Answer the following questions.

1. What are the six top-level functions of GMPLS?

2. What does reducing the number of interface layers do in a network?

3. What does MPlS allow in an optical network?

4. Which protocols are being modified to support link-status dissemination in GMPLS network?

5. What protocol extends the function of MPLS into an optical plane?

Answers: 1. Discovery of neighborhood resources, dissemination of link status, topology link-state management, path management and control, link management, and link protection; 2. reduces overall operational cost and improves packet efficiency; 3. allows for the designation of a color in a spectrum to a MPLS packet that can then be linked directly to an optical network; 4. OSPF and IS-IS; 5. Link Management Protocol.

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