Optical layer survivability: a post-bubble perspective

We revisit the topic of optical layer protection from a motivation and deployment perspective. We first discuss the changes that have occurred in optical networking in general and the implications for protection. We then discuss scenarios where optical protection makes sense, recognizing that other fast protection schemes at the client layer provide viable alternatives in certain cases. Our conclusion is that optical protection makes sense for metro networks, as long as they are based on simple dedicated schemes. When it gets to more complex shared ring and mesh protection, we believe that OEO-based schemes are more viable, whether crossconnect-based or packet-switch-based.