Burstiness as Traffic Metric in Next-Generation Optical Core Networks

Next-generation all-optical packet-switched core networks use very small packet buffers. The authors argue that it is essential to focus on burstiness rather than bandwidth when conditioning traffic for effective network operation. The all-optical core of the next-generation Internet exhibits characteristics that are the exact opposite of traditional network. Since the first days of the Internet, networks have been limited in communication bandwidth but have had large packet buffers. In contrast, emerging optical networks provide vast amounts of bandwidth, but are very limited in their ability to implement packet buffers efficiently.