Network Planning and Optimization of Equipment Deployment

• US 20090103453A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Original Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Inventors: Jain, Maneesh, Misra, Mohit, Hand, Steven Joseph, Saxena, Atul, Venkatesan, Rajasekar, Hanumanthappa, Jayaram
• Granted Patent: US 8,031,704 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0278 WDM optical network architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0284 WDM mesh architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/62 Wavelength based optical switching H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/40 Constructional details, e.g. power supply, mechanical construction or backplane

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, devices and methods for improving the efficient deployment and configuration of networking equipment within a network build-out. In certain embodiments of the invention, an iterative analysis of inter-node equipment placement and connectivity, and inter- and intra-node traffic flow is performed to identify a preferred deployment solution. This analysis of deployment optimization takes into account both configurations from a network node perspective as well as from a network system perspective. Deployment solutions are iteratively progressed and analyzed to determine a preferred solution based on both the cost of deployment and satisfaction of the network demands. In various embodiments of the invention, a baseline marker is generated from which the accuracy of the solution may be approximated that suggests to an engineer whether the deployment is approaching an optimal solution.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing a configuration of a network node having a plurality of transport-side line cards and a backplane, the method comprising:

identifying a first plurality of transport-side line cards that route a plurality of traffic circuits in a candidate link on the network node;

routing the plurality of traffic circuits in the candidate link across a second plurality of transport-side line cards and ordering nodal flows across the backplane; and

wherein the first plurality of transport-side line cards is larger than the second plurality of transport-side line cards.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the nodal flows are ordered across a backplane comprising the steps of:

unrouting the plurality of traffic circuits from a previous configuration;

categorizing the unrouted traffic circuits into a plurality of nodal flows; and

routing the plurality of categorized nodal flows in the network node to improve bandwidth utilization of at least one backplane connection in the network node.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the categorized nodal flows are categorized according to flow rates.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of using nodal flow information to route the plurality of nodal flows through the network node to preserve a highest number of chassis degrees of freedom for future demands.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of grouping a plurality of partial node flows, all having a same direction through the network node, and routing the grouped plurality of partial node flows on the at least one backplane connection.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of determining whether the routing of traffic circuits and ordering of nodal flows resulted in a total network reduction of transport-side line cards used to satisfy network demands.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of iteratively progressing through a plurality of routed traffic circuit and ordered nodal flow configurations to select a preferred configuration based on a total cost of equipment deployed within a network.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the intermediary node comprises a backplane having a topology selected from a group consisting of a full mesh topology and a partial mesh topology.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the partial mesh topology is a ring topology.

10. A computer readable medium comprising computer instructions for implementing the method of claim 1.

11. A system for approximating an accuracy of a preferred equipment deployment solution for a network, the system comprising:

a network planner, coupled to receive a set of constraints associated with the network, that generates a preferred network deployment solution; and

a baseline marker generator, coupled to receive a set of relaxed constraints associated with the network, that generates a baseline marker; and

wherein the baseline marker is a gauge from which an accuracy approximation of the preferred network deployment solution is provided relative to an optimal solution.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the set of constraints comprises at least one constraint selected from a group consisting of shortest path calculations, protected path diversity, connectivity between a transport-side line card and an optical multiplexer or demultiplexer, bandwidth backplane analysis, full cross-connect chassis constraints, client-side line card exhaustion, protected end-point diversity, optical-electrical marked unavailable optical channel group, port diversity on a chassis, multi-chassis interconnection, maximum line cards available to a chassis.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the set of relaxed constraints comprises a subset of the set of constraints.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the set of relaxed constraints comprises at least one constraint selected from a group consisting of shortest path calculations, protected path diversity, connectivity between a transport-side line card and an optical multiplexer or demultiplexer.

15. A method for improving a deployment of equipment within a network node, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of transport-side line cards that satisfies transport-side traffic demands on the network node;

identifying a plurality of client-side line cards that satisfies client-side traffic demands on the network node;

routing traffic circuits in a candidate link of the network node to increase line card utilization on at least one transport-side line card in the plurality of transport-side line cards; and

ordering nodal flows across the network node to improve bandwidth alignment between the plurality of transport-side line cards and the plurality of client-side line cards; and

placing the plurality of client-side line cards within a plurality of chassis slots to terminate the ordered nodal flows on the network node.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of client-side line cards comprise a first set of client-side line cards having a plurality of ports that interface with a client device and a second set of client-side line cards that provide additional bandwidth capacity to at least one client-side line card in the first set of client-side line cards.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first set of client-side line cards operates in accordance with at least one networking standard selected from a group consisting of a SONET standard, an Ethernet standard, a Fibre Channel standard, and an Optical Transport Network standard.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of transport-side line cards comprises integrated optical components that transmit and combine a plurality of optical signals into a WDM signal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the plurality of transport-side line cards further comprises integrated optical components that demultiplex a WDM signal into a plurality of optical channels and convert the plurality of channels to a plurality of electrical signals.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of reordering nodal flows comprises:

unrouting the traffic circuits from a previous configuration;

categorizing the unrouted traffic circuits into a plurality of nodal flows between the plurality of transport-side line cards and the plurality of client-side line cards; and

routing the plurality of categorized nodal flows in the intermediary network node to improve bandwidth alignment between the plurality of transport-side line cards and the plurality of client-side line cards.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the categorized nodal flows are categorized according to flow rates and nodal flow types.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of using nodal flow information to route the plurality of nodal flows through the termination node to preserve a highest number of chassis degrees of freedom for future demands.

23. A method for improving bandwidth utilization across a plurality of line cards, the method comprising:

identify at least one candidate link on a plurality of line cards;

unroute a plurality of circuits within the at least one line card on candidate link from the plurality of line cards;

reroute the plurality of circuits to the plurality of line cards based on nodal flows of the plurality of circuits;

identify whether all of the plurality of circuits were able to be rerouted on the plurality of line card and determine whether a first line card within the plurality of line cards does not service any of the plurality of circuits; and

remove the first card from the plurality of circuits.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the at least one candidate link has a nodal flow that is less than the line card bandwidth by an amount greater than a bandwidth of an optical signal group within the plurality of optical signal groups.

25. A method for improving a deployment of equipment within a network node, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of transport-side line cards that satisfy traffic demands on the network node;

rerouting traffic circuits in a candidate link on the network node to increase line card utilization on at least one transport-side line card in the plurality of transport-side line cards; and

reordering nodal flows across the network node to increase backplane bandwidth utilization of at least one backplane connection in the intermediary network node.