As packet switching moves into the all-optical domain, limited buffering capability becomes a significant concern for switch designers and network operators alike. In this talk we summarise some of our recent insights in this area. Specifically, we investigate the use of techniques such as traffic conditioning and forward error correction in helping manage contention loss in the all-optical core. We also speculate on the impact of buffer capacity on the nature of TCP traffic and its co-existence with open-loop traffic. It is hoped the talk will foster discussion on broad research challenges related to buffering in all-optical packet-switched networks.

Vijay Sivaraman received his B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India, in 1994, his M.S. from North Carolina State University in 1996, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2000. His PhD studies were funded by a Fellowship from Bell Labs. He has worked at a silicon valley start-up manufacturing optical switch-routers, and is now an academic at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. His research interests include Optical Networking, packet switching and routing, and more recently wireless sensor networks for healthcare applications.