We provide models for evaluating the performance, cost and power consumption of different architectures suitable for a metropolitan area network (MAN). We then apply these models to compare today's SONET/SDH metro rings with different alternatives envisaged for next-generation MAN: an Ethernetcarrier grade ring, an optical hub-based architecture and an optical time-slotted WDM ring. Our results indicate that the optical architectures are likely to decrease power consumption by up to 75 %, when compared to present day MANs. Moreover, by allowing the capacity of each wavelength to be dynamically shared among all nodes, a transparent slotted WDM yields throughput performance which is practically equivalent to that of today's electronic architectures, for equal capacity.

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This paper investigates the use of optical microring resonators as switching elements in large optical interconnection fabrics. We introduce a simple physical-layer model to assess scalability in crossbar-and Benes-based architectures. We also propose a new dilated switching element that improves scalability to build fabrics of several Tbps of aggregate capacity.

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