Network management and control for intelligent and agile optical networks

This paper presents work in progress in the framework of the research project NOBEL (Next generation Optical networks for Broadband European Leadership), funded by the European Commission through the IST Program. The NOBEL project has the goal to design and validate the target architecture for an intelligent and agile optical network, which will enable ubiquitous broadband end-to-end services, based on an appropriate core and metro network infrastructure, which aggregates end user traffic and ensures a cost-effective end-to-end transport with the desired level of quality. To this end, the project investigates the evolution of metro and core networks and derives from there the functional requirements of network control and management. The project addresses a multidimensional problem space, namely the provision of end-to-end services, the integration of multiple network layers, the simplification of network management and control, and the support of multi-service and multi-domain networks. This paper presents the aims and activities in the area of Network Management and Control Planes (performed in NOBEL Work Package 4). The paper explains that close interworking between all components and instances in care of network control and management is necessary and depicts an approach to achieve this goal.