Abstract

Even though the economy is rather stagnant, IP data traffic has continued to grow steadily in Japan. The target of our recent research and development activities is to realize a photonic network in which optical paths are dynamically controlled from the IP layer. A router that can control Lambda switching will be the best candidate for realizing such networks. The solution will be the integration of two systems in different layers: the Optical Path Cross-connect system and Multi- Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) router.¹ This router can be called the photonic MPLS router.

© 2002 Optical Society of America