Optical networks have moved from laboratory settings and theoretical research to real-world deployment and service-oriented explorations. New technologies such as Ethernet PON, traffic grooming, regional and metropolitan network architectures and optical packet switching are being explored, and the landscape is continuously and rapidly evolving. Some of the important issues involving these new technologies involve the architectural, protocol, and performance related issues. This book addresses many of these issues and presents a birds eye view of some of the more promising technologies. Researchers and those pursuing advanced degrees in this field will be able to see where progress is being made and new technologies are emerging.

"Optical networks have moved from laboratory settings and theoretical research to real-world deployment and service-oriented explorations. New technologies such as Ethernet PON, traffic grooming, regional and metropolitan network architectures and optical packet switching are being explored, and the landscape is continuously and rapidly evolving. Some of the important issues involving these new technologies involve the architectural, protocol, and performance related issues. This book addresses many of these issues and presents a birds eye view of some of the more promising technologies. Researchers and those pursuing advanced degrees in this field will be able to see where progress is being made and new technologies are emerging.

Network Architectures.- Enabling Architectures for Next Generation Optical Networks.- Hybrid Hierarchical Optical Networks.- Advances in Passive Optical Networks (PONS).- Regional-Metro Optical Networks.- Switching.- Optical Packet Switching.- Waveband Switching: A New Frontier in Optical WDM Networks.- Optical Burst Switching: Quality of Service, Multicast, and Operation and Maintenance.- Signaling Protocols and Network Operation.- GMPLS-Based Exchange Points: Architecture and Functionality.- The GMPLS Control Plane Architecture for Optical Networks.- Operational Aspects of Mesh Networking in WDM Optical Networks.- Traffic Grooming.- Traffic Grooming in WDM Networks.- A Practical and Cost-Effective Approach to Efficient Traffic Grooming in WDM Mesh Networks.- Protection and Restoration.- A Survey of Survivability Techniques for Optical WDM Networks.- Tradeoffs and Comparison of Restoration Strategies in Optical WDM Networks.- Facilitating Service Level Agreements with Restoration Speed Requirements.- Failure Location in WDM Networks.- Testbeds.- A Multi-Layer Switched GMPLS Optical Network.- HORNET: A Packet Switched WDM Metropolitan Network.