In an optical communication network that includes a plurality of interconnected network nodes, a method includes storing in each network node, and for each communication channel that traverses the node, one or more impairment margins of respective impairments that affect the communication channel. A potential communication channel that traverses a subset of the nodes in the network is identified. A quality of the potential communication channel is evaluated by processing the impairment margins stored in the nodes in the subset.

Embodiments may be generally direct to apparatuses, systems, method, and techniques to determine a configuration for a plurality of connectors, the configuration to associate a first interconnect protocol with a first subset of the plurality of connectors and a second interconnect protocol with a second subset of the plurality of connectors, the first interconnect protocol and the second interconnect protocol are different interconnect protocols and each comprising one of a serial link protocol, a coherent link protocol, and an accelerator link protocol, cause processing of data for communication via the first subset of the plurality of connectors in accordance with the first interconnect protocol, and cause processing of data for communication via the second subset of the plurality of connector in accordance with the second interconnect protocol.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve coherently mixing information in a first optical signal with information from one or more other optical signals, the optical signals being synchronous, to generate a mixed optical signal that obfuscates the information of the first optical signal. Each of the other optical signals is likewise mixed with a combination of the first and/or other optical signals resulting in a collection of mixed optical signals, none of which resemble the original first and other optical signals. When each of the mixed optical signals is transmitted in a separate optical fiber, then eavesdropping on only a single fiber cannot yield an unambiguous recovery of any one of the original optical signals.

Provided are a method, an apparatus and a system for establishing an optical bypass. The method includes: a route controller sending an optical bypass establishment request carrying information about an ingress node, an egress node and a required bandwidth to an optical transmission controller; and setting a second flow forwarding entry corresponding to the optical bypass for the ingress node and the egress node and sending the set second flow forwarding entry to the ingress node and the egress node when receiving an establishment success notification sent by the optical transmission controller, the establishment success notification being used for indicating that the optical transmission controller has allocated the optical bypass according to the optical bypass establishment request, set a first flow forwarding entry corresponding the bypass for each optical transmission device in the optical bypass, and sent the set first flow forwarding entry to a corresponding optical transmission device.

A method, computer-readable storage device and apparatus for routing traffic in a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer of a dense wavelength division multiplexing network are disclosed. For example, the method determines the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer has asymmetric traffic, and routes the asymmetric traffic in the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer over a plurality of asymmetrical optical connections, wherein the plurality of asymmetrical optical connections is provided with only uni-directional equipment in the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer.

Systems and methods for discovery of a controller in an OpenFlow network may include using an OpenFlow capable switch to discover the controller without the help of other components, such as DHCP. The link discovery protocol may be configured on the switch and the discovery process may use an out-of-band or an in-band communication. In one example, a link discovery protocol packet is sent out of all ports of a switch that meet the eligibility criteria. The response is guaranteed because of a TTL like mechanism in the packet. Each port on a switch that receives this link discovery protocol packet takes an action depending on its current state.

A communication device in a communication system in which functions that are converted to software are configured as a plurality of components, and the functions are realized as a result of the components being respectively executed by a plurality of communication devices that are connected to a network, the communication device including a capsulation function unit configured to encapsulate information that is to be transmitted to another communication device.

An apparatus includes a first communication interface configured to be communicatively coupled, via an optical line, to a network device that is disposed in an optical network using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The apparatus also includes a second communication interface configured to be communicatively coupled to a router via an Ethernet connection. The apparatus also includes a signal generator operatively coupled to the first communication interface and the second communication interface. The signal generator is configured to generate an Ethernet signal representing at least one attribute of the optical line between the first communication interface and the network device. The second communication interface is configured to transmit the Ethernet signal to the router.

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for data packet switching, and an access switch and a switching system, so as to satisfy requirements of a datacenter for a switching bandwidth and a switching granularity. The method includes: receiving MAC frame control information; determining an interface used for forwarding an MAC frame according to the MAC frame control information and through performing a query on a MAC address forwarding table, where the interface used for forwarding the MAC frame includes a downlink interface, an uplink electrical packet switching network interface and/or an uplink optical packet switching network interface; transmitting a control signal to an electrical packet switching unit, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface. According to the method provided in the present invention, the utilization rate of each interface can be improved.

A method for determining a path in an optical network, implemented by one or more controllers associated with a control layer, includes receiving a path request specifying start and end points, an associated bandwidth, and a longevity parameter providing an anticipated length during which the path is required; determining a route in the optical network through a routing algorithm executed by the controller, wherein the routing algorithm utilizes the start and end points, the associated bandwidth, and the longevity parameter to determine the path; and provisioning the path through a plurality of switches along the route.