A hybrid optical switching approach

Optical circuit switching (OCS) is a sophisticated technology widely deployed in current optical networks, and has many advantages in the transport of stable and long-duration traffic flows. However, it is not suitable for bursty data traffic. On the other hand, an alternative technology, optical burst switching (OBS), well addresses bursty IP traffic transport, but is not suitable for stable and large flows. To transport both types of traffic effectively, a hybrid optical switching approach is proposed which combines OCS and OBS to exploit the merits of both technologies. The performance has been evaluated in terms of throughput and blocking probability.