As the size of Data Centers (DCs) and the amount of information managed by them grows, nowadays electronic-based intra-Data Center Networks (DCNs) start to become a limiting factor, not providing enough scalability nor flexibility to support highly dynamic traffic profiles. The LIGHTNESS intra-DCN solution, based on a hybrid all-optical OCS/OPS architecture, aims to overcome such limitations, providing an architecture suitable for the management of both long- and short-lived traffic flows. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of such a hybrid architecture in terms of blocking probability for various traffic conditions, highlighting its benefits against pure OCS or OPS networks.

Peer Reviewed