Abstract: A low-cost, high-speed data switching system and method uses several parallel switching systems or fabrics. In one of various embodiments, for example, the constituent data flows in a data stream can be selectively routed to a switching fabric that has the lowest input data rate. Data flows can be assigned to the various switching fabrics so as to balance the amount of data passing through each parallel system. Data flows can be re-assigned on an as-needed basis to insure maximum throughput. In the case where a data flow initially routed into one switching fabric must be re-routed to a different fabric, the ordering of data packets can be preserved by withholding the transfer of packets through the second fabric until the packets previously sent into the first fabric have cleared. Methods and apparatus of the present invention find application to parallel computing as well.

Abstract: A method and system for designing a bi-connected ring-based network is provided, which designs from scratch or converts an existing network to a dual-homed ring-based network. The network covers the locations capable of being bi-connected with one or more cycles/rings. The traffic demand is then routed via the cycles, in such a way so as to minimize the amount of network traffic management equipment required.

Abstract: A telecommunications mesh network includes a plurality of nodes each interconnected by an edge. A traffic demand is received having a working path with a link of edges interconnecting a source node with a destination node. The telecommunications mesh network has one or more pre-cross-connected trails associated therewith that are subdivided into one or more subtrails. Subtrails that do not meet pre-determined conditions are discarded. A logical graph representation of the telecommunications mesh network is created from subtrails that have not been discarded. Unused, shortcut, and rival edges are inserted into the logical graph. A shortest admissible protection path from the source node to the destination node is identified from the logical graph.

Abstract: A communication system (5) comprises a first network (10) including a source (11) arranged to transmit data and a second network (30) including a destination (31) arranged to receive the data. Interruptions in communication between the source and destination are reduced by providing a first primary node (12) and a first secondary node (13) in the first network (10), and a second primary node (32) and a second secondary node (33) in the second network (30). First and second sets of primary routes (14 and 34) and secondary routes (18 and 36) are provided within the first and second networks to facilitate delivery of data to various nodes.

Abstract: A method and system for designing a bi-connected ring-based network is provided, which designs from scratch or converts an existing network to a dual-homed ring-based network. The network covers the locations capable of being bi-connected with one or more cycles/rings. The traffic demand is then routed via the cycles, in such a way so as to minimize the amount of network traffic management equipment required.

Abstract: A low-cost, high-speed data switching system and method uses several parallel switching systems or fabrics. In one of various embodiments, for example, the constituent data flows in a data stream can be selectively routed to a switching fabric that has the lowest input data rate. Data flows can be assigned to the various switching fabrics so as to balance the amount of data passing through each parallel system. Data flows can be re-assigned on an as-needed basis to insure maximum throughput. In the case where a data flow initially routed into one switching fabric must be re-routed to a different fabric, the ordering of data packets can be preserved by withholding the transfer of packets through the second fabric until the packets previously sent into the first fabric have cleared. Methods and apparatus of the present invention find application to parallel computing as well.

Abstract: A low-cost, high-speed data switching system and method uses several parallel switching systems or fabrics. In one of various embodiments, for example, the constituent data flows in a data stream can be selectively routed to a switching fabric that has the lowest input data rate. Data flows can be assigned to the various switching fabrics so as to balance the amount of data passing through each parallel system. Data flows can be re-assigned on an as-needed basis to insure maximum throughput. In the case where a data flow initially routed into one switching fabric must be re-routed to a different fabric, the ordering of data packets can be preserved by withholding the transfer of packets through the second fabric until the packets previously sent into the first fabric have cleared. Methods and apparatus of the present invention find application to parallel computing as well.

Abstract: A method for protecting a mesh network from connection failures includes reviewing, for each link in the mesh network, the single failure scenarios which would require support from the particular link. The method includes determining from these single failure scenarios the worst-case bandwidth required of the particular link to support them and designating this worst-case bandwidth as the capacity for the particular link.

Abstract: A communication system (5) comprises a first network (10) including a source (11) arranged to transmit data and a second network (30) including a destination (31) arranged to receive the data. [At least one of the first network and the second network is a mesh network.] Interruptions in communication between the source and destination are reduced by providing a first primary node (12) and a first secondary node (13) in the first network (10), and a second primary node (32) and a second secondary node (33) in the second network (30). [A first set] First and second sets of primary routes (14 and 34) and secondary routes (18 and 36) [is] are provided within the first and second networks [network] to facilitate delivery of [a first set of the] data to various nodes. [the first primary node and a second set of the data to the first secondary node.

Abstract: The present invention relates, by way of illustration, to a telecommunications network that includes a collection of geographically dispersed network elements, called nodes, connected by communication links (e.g., fiber, wireless links). The topology of the network may be an arbitrary mesh. This information may be represented by a graph. For each pair of nodes in the network, a pair of node-disjoint paths between the nodes of minimum total length is computed. One path of each pair is designated to be the working path and the other is designated to be a protection path. Each time there is a traffic demand to be routed on the network from one node A to another node B, the required amount of bandwidth to support the demand is allocated on the working path between A and B. Bandwidth is also allocated along the protection path.

Abstract: A method and system for designing a bi-connected ring-based network is provided, which designs from scratch or converts an existing network to a dual-homed ring-based network. The network covers the locations capable of being bi-connected with one or more cycles/rings. The traffic demand is then routed via the cycles, in such a way so as to minimize the amount of network traffic management equipment required.