Electronic Switch Scalability in a Hybrid OXC Architecture

Considering the Optical Cross-Connector (OXC) standard network element (NE) of a second generation core optical transport network, a tributary traffic grooming is necessary for the efficient utilization of the wavelength resources. While the main or core matrix (switch) of an OXC can be implemented all-optical, a secondary electronic matrix may be integrated in the same NE to perform the necessary tributary traffic grooming and some other complementary tasks. Starting from the possible tasks or functions of a secondary (or edge) electronic switch of an OXC, an estimation of the required electronic switch capacity is made in this paper, in order to evaluate the scalability of these devices and subsequently the practical possibility of developing this kind of hybrid OXC architectures.