A virtualized optical network (VON) is proposed as a key to implementing increased agility and flexibility into the future Internet and applications by providing any-to-any connectivity with the appropriate optical bandwidth at the appropriate time. The VON is enabled by introducing optical transparentization and optical fine granular grooming based on optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.

A novel 1470-nm-band (S+ band) wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission system is described. The first advantage of S+-band transmission is suppression of degradation caused by four-wave mixing (FWM), which has been the dominant impairment factor in WDM transmission systems on dispersion-shifted fibers (DSFs). FWM suppression by using the S+ band instead of the conventional 1550-nm-band (M band) is successfully demonstrated. The second advantage is expansion of the usable bandwidth by using the S+ band together with other wavelength bands. A triple-wavelength-band WDM repeaterless transmission experiment using the S+ band, the M band and the L band (1580-nm-band) is conducted over DSF, and it is shown that degradation due to inter-wavelength-band nonlinear interactions is negligible in the transmission. Moreover, the transmission performance of an S+-band linear repeating system is estimated by computer simulation, and compared with that of other wavelength-band systems. In the experiments, thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs) are used for amplification of signals in the S+ band.

A novel 1470-nm-band (S+ band) wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission system is described. The first advantage of S+-band transmission is suppression of degradation caused by four-wave mixing (FWM), which has been the dominant impairment factor in WDM transmission systems on dispersion-shifted fibers (DSFs). FWM suppression by using the S+ band instead of the conventional 1550-nm-band (M band) is successfully demonstrated. The second advantage is expansion of the usable bandwidth by using the S+ band together with other wavelength bands. A triple-wavelength-band WDM repeaterless transmission experiment using the S+ band, the M band and the L band (1580-nm-band) is conducted over DSF, and it is shown that degradation due to inter-wavelength-band nonlinear interactions is negligible in the transmission. Moreover, the transmission performance of an S+-band linear repeating system is estimated by computer simulation, and compared with that of other wavelength-band systems. In the experiments, thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs) are used for amplification of signals in the S+ band.

The popularity of cloud computing services is driving the boom in building mega-datacenters. This trend is forcing significant increases in the required scale of the intra-datacenter network. To meet this requirement, this paper proposes a photonic network architecture based on a multi-layer hypercube topology. The proposed architecture uses the Cyclic-Frequency Arrayed Waveguide Grating (CF-AWG) device to realize a multi-layer hypercube and properly combines several multiplexing systems that include Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), Wave-Band Division Multiplexing (WBDM) and Space Division Multiplexing (SDM). An estimation of the achievable network scale reveals that the proposed architecture can achieve a Peta-bit to Exa-bit class, large scale hypercube network with existing technologies.

We propose optical path routing and frequency slot assignment algorithms that can make the best use of elastic optical paths and the capabilities of distance adaptive modulation. Due to the computational difficulty of the assignment problem, we develop algorithms for 1+1 dedicated/1:1 shared protected ring networks and unprotected mesh networks to that fully utilize the characteristics of the topologies. Numerical experiments elucidate that the introduction of path elasticity and distance adaptive modulation significantly reduce the occupied bandwidth.

Platforms of hosting services are expected to provide a virtual private computing infrastructure with guaranteed levels of performance to support each reservation request sent by a client. To enhance the performance of the computing infrastructure in responding to reservation requests, the platforms are required to reserve, coordinate, and control globally distributed computing and network resources across multiple domains. This paper proposes Grid Network Service -- Web Services Interface version 2 (GNS-WSI2). GNS-WSI2 is a resource-reservation messaging protocol that establishes a client-server relationship. A server is a kind of management system in the management plane, and it allocates available network resources within its own domain in response to each reservation request from a client. GNS-WSI2 has the ability to reserve network resources rapidly and reliably over multiple network domains. This paper also presents the results of feasibility tests on a transpacific testbed that validate GNS-WSI2 in terms of the scalable reservation of network resources over multiple network domains. In the tests, two computing infrastructures over multiple network domains are dynamically provided for scientific computing and remote-visualization applications. The applications are successfully executed on the provided infrastructures.

We describe a concept and realization of distance-adaptive (DA) resource allocation in spectrum-sliced elastic optical path network (SLICE). We modify the modulation format and cross-connection bandwidth of individual fixed-bit rate optical paths to optimize performance with respect to transmission distance. The shorter paths are allocated a smaller amount of resources which allows reducing the spectrum occupied by the channel. We show in calculation a reduction in required spectral resources of more than 60% when compared to the traditional traffic allocation schemes based on ITU-T grid. The concept is verified experimentally.

The objective of this paper is to survey the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) based recovery technology for optical transport networks. This paper introduces standardization activities of the GMPLS based recovery technology in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and recent progress of related experiments. In addition, this paper extracts requirements for the GMPLS based recovery technology through the evaluation of existing network elements, which can be client nodes of the optical transport networks. The results of field evaluations on the GMPLS based recovery technology are also introduced in this paper. Then, this paper addresses the issues for future deployment of the GMPLS based recovery technology for the optical transport networks.

Many detailed studies ranging from networking to hardware as well as standardization activities over the last few years have advanced the performance of the elastic optical network. Thanks to these intensive works, the elastic optical network has been becoming feasible. This paper reviews the recent advances in the elastic optical network from the aspects of networking technology and hardware design. For the former, we focus on the efficient elastic network design technology related to routing and spectrum assignment (RSA) of elastic optical paths including network optimization or standardization activities, and for the latter, two key enabling technologies are discussed: elastic transponders/regenerators and gridless optical switches. Making closely-dependent networking and hardware technologies work synergistically is the key factor in implementing truly effective elastic optical networks.

Bolstering survivable backbone networks against multiple failures is becoming a common concern among telecom companies that need to continue services even when disasters occur. This paper presents a multiple-failure recovery scheme that considers the operation and management of optical paths. The presented scheme employs scheme escalation from pre-planned restoration to full rerouting. First, the survivability of this scheme against multiple failures is evaluated considering operational constraints such as route selection, resource allocation, and the recovery order of failed paths. The evaluation results show that scheme escalation provides a high level of survivability even under operational constraints, and this paper quantitatively clarifies the impact of these various operational constraints. In addition, the fundamental functions of the scheme escalation are implemented in the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching control plane and verified in an optical-cross-connect-based network.

We investigate through simulation simultaneous linear and nonlinear impairments using a realistic reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) model while considering optical filtering and in-band coherent crosstalk at each ROADM and the nonlinear interfering effects from neighbor superchannels with the QPSK or 16QAM modulation format.

This paper presents an elastic optical path network architecture as a novel networking framework to address the looming capacity crunch problem in internet protocol (IP) and optical networks. The basic idea is to introduce elasticity and adaptation into the optical domain to yield spectrally-efficient optical path accommodation, heightened network scalability through IP traffic offloading to the elastic optical layer, and enhanced survivability for serious disasters.

An all-fibre sensing system having both a high handling capability and an enhanced stability has been developed by introducing a tapered fibre to laser coupling, fibre polarizers, and a threefold switching of laser injection current. Possible factors responsible for erroneous measurement are also inspected and the resultant error is estimated less than 0.01 K.

Dense WDM techniques that exploit the enormous bandwidth of dispersion-shifted fibers (DSFs) while avoiding the impairments due to nonlinear effects are described. First, the nature of four-wave mixing (FWM), the dominant impairment factor in WDM transmission systems, is investigated using DSF installed in the field and laboratory experiments. This provides useful information for the practical design of WDM networks based on DSF. Second, practical techniques to reduce FWM impairment, unequal channel allocation and off-lambda-zero channel allocation (equal channel allocation in the novel 1580 nm band) along with gain-shifted erbium-doped fiber amplifiers for the 1570 to 1600 nm band, is described. Comparisons between off-lambda-zero and unequal channel allocation are provided in terms of the maximum transmission distance for various numbers of channels. Two schemes to immunize WDM systems against group velocity dispersion, span-by-span dispersion compensation and optical duobinary format, are presented. The combination of unequal channel allocation with off-lambda-zero channel allocation as well as the combination of two bands: the conventional 1550 nm band and the novel 1580 nm band are proven to be very useful in expanding the usable bandwidth of DSFs.

Optical time- and wavelength-domain paths in future very-high-speed optical communications networks are discussed taking into account trends in current optical transmission and optical signal processing technologies. It is important to investigate optical STM cross-connect systems for time-domain paths in the earlier research phase to ensure the deployment of optical cross-connect technology. The configuration of an optical cross-connect system and the issues that need to be investigated are presented. We also report, for the first time, a preliminary experiment of an optical STM cross-connect system, using 20 Gbit/s optical signals.