A Methodology for Physical Interconnection Decisions of Next Generation Transport Networks

The physical interconnection for optical transport networks has critical relevance in the overall network performance and deployment costs. As telecommunication services and technologies evolve, the provisioning of higher capacity and reliability levels is becoming essential for the proper development of Next Generation Networks. Currently, there is a lack of specific procedures that describe the basic guidelines to design such networks better than "best possible performance for the lowest investment". Therefore, the research from different points of view will allow a broader space of possibilities when designing the physical network interconnection. This paper develops and presents a methodology in order to deal with aspects related to the interconnection problem of optical transport networks. This methodology is presented as independent puzzle pieces, covering diverse topics going from novel design criteria to well-known organized topologies. These can be used to investigate the influence of the physical interconnection of networks over their performance properties, and draw conclusions to improve the current decision support techniques related to this theme. In addition, several examples of the use of this methodology are presented.