Recovery (i.e. protection and restoration) of switched connections under tight time constraints is a challenging problem in Generalized MPLS (GMPLS)-capable optical networks (including SDH, optical SDH and OTH). In this context, the proposed tutorial presents a detailed analysis of the recovery mechanisms (including protection and restoration) as provided by a state of the art GMPLS-capable control plane. These recovery capabilities are made available by a tight collaboration between Traffic Engineering extensions to IGP (such as OSPF-TE), Link Management Protocol (LMP) and generalized RSVP-TE signalling. In this regard, the corresponding cooperative mechanisms will be largely detailed and illustrated through application examples.

Dimitri Papadimitriou, Expert Research Engineer in Optical Networking, Alcatel (Antwerpen, Belgium) - Network Technology and Analysis, received an MS in Physics from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Liege. After collaboration with the Network Protocols R&D of the Research Center in Namur, he focused in 1998 on the design and evaluation of Ethernet, SDH and Optical transport networks. In 2000, he started as Expert Research Engineer in the Optical Network Architecture Department of Alcatel. His current research interests are focused on wavelength switched optical networks and their distributed control planes. His results lead him also to standardization activities where he focused on IETF Sub-IP Area and OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) where he edits and co-authors numerous contributions. Altogether, he currently publishes more than 30 standardization papers on Generalized MPLS (GMPLS)-based control planes and various technical papers on unique aspects of routing and recovery techniques in wavelength switched optical networks.