Design considerations for energy efficient, resilient, multi-layer networks

Abstract

This work investigates different network design considerations with respect to energy-efficiency, under green-field resilient multi-layer network deployment. The problem of energy efficient, reliable multi-layer network design is known to result in different trade-offs between key performance measures. In this complex problem, considerations such as client traffic granularity, applied grooming policies and multi-layer resiliency add even more complexity. A commercially available network planning tool is used to investigate the interplay between different methods for resilient capacity planning in multi-layer networks and performance measures such as network resource utilization, availability, agility to traffic fluctuations and energy consumption. A green-field network deployment scenario is considered, where different resiliency methods, design methodologies and grooming strategies are applied. Switching off low-utilized transport links has been investigated via a pro-active re-routing applied during the network planning. Our analysis shows that design factors such as the applied survivability strategy and the applied planning method have higher impact on the key performance indicators compared to the pro-active re-routing under the investigated network deployment scenarios. Power consumption reduction between 9,7% (when applying pro-active re-routing) and 65,7% (when applying a more suitable design methodology) have been demonstrated.