Overview

Abstract

The late 1990s heralded the need for optical transport networks to make a transition from catering to mostly voice traffic to converged voice and multiservice data-centric traffic. This transition led to several innovative standardized solutions, developed primarily within the International Telecommunication Union, (ITU-T) to develop and more efficiently leverage new and existing transport infrastructures to support the delivery of conventional and emerging services. Associated with this trend has been the cross-fertilization of concepts and technologies between traditionally data-oriented standards organizations, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the ITU-T. Further coupled with this cross-fertilization has been an industry focus upon defining the multitude of services that such networks can offer, as evidenced by diligent work efforts in industry forums such as the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Industry forums, including the MEF, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), and TeleManagement Forum (TMF), currently play important roles related to the realization and deployment of new technologies. Last but not least, due to the large number of component vendors whose standard products are used in the design of the network elements that provide these diverse set of services, the need for standardized backplane and component interfaces has never been greater.