Demand in Wavelength Routed Optical Networks

lntroduction Today's SiNation in the telecom market is simul- taneously characterized by enormous technical progress and a dramatic economic dawnrum. The economic domm requires the introduction of new networking technologies even in the trans- pan layer of the backbone networks. In order to save on capital expenditures (CapEx) for next generation transport networks, transparent net- working with sparse wavelength conversion and optical light path regeneration must be intro- duced. It is well accepted that the transparent net- working approach will keep the CapEx dawn to acceptable level. On the other hand, much discus- sion on the resulting additional operational costs (OpEx) of the carriers exists. The laner results possibly in an expected increase in the planning effon of the carriers. To cover this planning prob- lem, simple to use planning methods have to be available for the next generation wavelength routed optical networks (WRONs). Beside these planning methods, technical sales of the system vendors as well as the network planning groups of the network operatorsneed simple algorithms for fast estimation of the costs for a planned network topology with a given traffic demand. In this paper we evaluate formulas to estimate the number of wavelengths necessary in a planned network topology for different traffic demands. ~~~~~~