A comparison of strategies for survivable network design: reconfigurable and conventional approaches

A novel approach to network survivability, based on the rapid reconfiguration of highspeed digital cross-connect systems (DCS), is compared with the conventional approach, based on 1:1 protection switching using diverse routes. Two sample networks are modeled, one ring and one mesh, and the installed first cost of the required network elements is calculated. By varying the network parameters, the sensitivity of both approaches to link length, degree of network connectivity and repeaterless span length can be quantified. While no approach consistently minimizes installed first costs, the results provide insight into the preferred range of applications for the different survivability strategies