Next-generation optical access networks: Dynamic bandwidth allocation, resource use optimization, and QoS improvements [Guest Eeditorial]

Rapidly increasing traffic demands of current residential and business applications and newly evolving services require access network solutions that can offer dramatically higher bandwidth. New applications tend to be media-rich such as high-definition television (HDTV), video on demand (VoD), voice over IP (VoIP), and high-speed Internet. Emerging applications include multimedia conferencing, multiplayer online gaming, online content generation, and consumer-oriented cloudcomputing solutions, and are even more demanding and bandwidth-hungry. As a result, future wireline access networks will be faced with the challenge of transporting the ever increasing volume of data-centric traffic with ever tighter timing and quality of service (QoS) requirements. The seven articles in this special issue focus on next generation optical network communications and networking.