Optical layer signaling: how much is really needed?

This article challenges the emerging industry trend of adapting Internet-style distributed network-control with its full complexity for the optical transport network. Instead, we argue that an extensive telecom-style network management interface augmented with a minimal control plane and a service layer interface between management systems is more appropriate for the real needs of the optical layer. This approach will allow more flexibility in extending the interoperability between vendors and carriers as our understanding of these networks grows, increase the reliability of the network, and be a better fit for the telecom service provider. On the other hand, the simplicity of use and automation the Internet control plane promises can just as easily be achieved with our proposal.