Optical networks, employing Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) and wavelength routing, are believed to be the answer for the explosion in IP traffic and the emergence of real-time multimedia applications. These networks offer quantum leaps in transmission capacity as well as eliminate the electronic bottleneck in existing metropolitan and backbone networks. During the last decade, we witnessed a tremendous growth in the theoretical and experimental studies focusing on the cost-effective deployment of wavelength routed networks. The majority of these studies, however, assumed ideal...

Optical networks, employing Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) and wavelength routing, are believed to be the answer for the explosion in IP traffic and the emergence of real-time multimedia applications. These networks offer quantum leaps in transmission capacity as well as eliminate the electronic bottleneck in existing metropolitan and backbone networks. During the last decade, we witnessed a tremendous growth in the theoretical and experimental studies focusing on the cost-effective deployment of wavelength- routed networks. The majority of these studies, however, assumed ideal...