Resource allocation in slotted optical data center networks

Kostas Kontodimas, Kostas Christodoulopoulos, Eitan Zahavi, Emmanouel A. Varvarigos

Abstract: The introduction of all-optical switching in data center interconnection networks (DCN) is key for addressing several of the shortcomings of state-of-the-art electronic switched solutions. Limitations in the port count and reconfiguration speed of optical switches, however, require novel DCN designs offering network scalability and dynamicity. We present the NEPHELE DCN which relies on hybrid electro-optical top-of rack (TOR) switches to interconnect servers over multi-wavelength all-optical rings. We described in detail the NEPHELE control cycle which follows the SDN paradigm. We evaluate the performance of NEPHELE regarding the effect of the control plane delay under realistic traffic.