IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM)

In conventional optical networks, the IP traffic and the optical transport network are managed separately. The situation is different with IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM), where the complete router-to-optical link is managed as a single entity, simplifying network management.

Reliability is enhanced by alarm correlations between the optical layer and the IP layer, and by end-to-end link monitoring.

IPoDWDM is a technology used in telecommunications networks to integrate routers and switches into an optical transport network( OTN). In the corresponding IPoDWDM systems for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 40G Ethernet and 100G Ethernet, the DWDM interface is an integral part of the router and control is provided by a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer( ROADM). In contrast, in the classic solution without IPoDWDM, the DWDM interfaces are located behind the optical multiplexers and switching is performed with an optical crossconnect( OXC) instead of the ROADM.

With the IPoDWDM solution, data rates of 100 Gbit/s have already been achieved over distances of 4,000 km.