QoS-based routing has been recognized as a missing piece in the evolution of QoS-based service offerings in the Internet. This document describes some of the QoS-based routing issues and requirements, and proposes a framework for QoS-based routing in the Internet. This framework is based on extending the current Internet routing model of intra and interdomain routing to support QoS.

The Internet transport infrastructure is moving towards a model of high-speed routers interconnected by optical core networks. The architectural choices for the interaction between IP and optical network layers, specifically, the routing and signaling aspects, are maturing. At the same time, a consensus has emerged in the industry on utilizing IP-based protocols for the optical control plane. This document defines a framework for IP over Optical networks, considering both the IP-based control plane for optical networks as well as IP-optical network interactions (together referred to as "IP over optical networks").

The Internet transport infrastructure is moving toward a model of high-speed routers interconnected by intelligent optical core networks. A consensus is emerging in the industry on utilizing an IP-centric control plane within optical networks to support dynamic provisioning and restoration of lightpaths. At the same time, there are divergent views on how IP routers must interact with optical core networks to achieve end-to-end connectivity. This article describes the architectural alternatives for interconnecting IP routers over optical networks, considering the routing and signaling issues. Also, the application of IP-based protocols for dynamic provisioning and restoration of lightpaths, as well as the interworking of multivendor optical networks is described.

This paper describes an architecture and analyzes the performance of dynamic provisioning of lightpaths in an optical network. In dynamic provisioning, a lightpath is set up in real-time without rearranging the working and protection routes of existing lightpaths, and without the knowledge of future lightpath provisioning events. This paper develops a general model of the physical topology of the optical network, and outlines routing approaches for dynamic provisioning of lightpaths. It analyzes via simulations the performance of dynamically provisioned unprotected, 1 + 1 protected and mesh-restored lightpaths. The analysis of the efficiency of network utilization of dynamic provisioning focuses on the spare capacity needed for protection, and in particular focuses on the impact of sharing of wavelength channels for mesh-restored lightpaths. The main conclusion from the performance studies is that significant capacity gains are achieved with sharing of wavelength-channels for mesh-restored lightpaths with dynamic provisioning even for sparse topologies, and even at moderate loads.

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