Routing in integrated SDH-ATM networks

Many efforts have been made to manage homogenous B-ISDN networks across multiple domains. However, less effort has been made for hybrid B-ISDN network management. The ACTS MISA(Management of Integrated SDH and ATM networks) project addresses the issue of hybrid ATM and SDH management, aiming to automate the end-to-end GBC (Global Broadband Connectivity) service in the integrated ATM and SDH network environment by realisation of the Global Broadband Connection Management (GBCM) service according to the TMN(Telecommunication Management Network) management architecture. The routing issue is fundamental to automating GBC so as to choose an optimal or nearly optimal route for the purpose of meeting various constraints imposed by customers and, at the same time, achieving good network performance. In this paper we discuss the routing issues, within a domain and across domains, in the MISA environment. By analysing the characteristics of the MISA network and MISA management system, the MISA routing requirements are identified. Through reference to ideas from the existing datagram network routing approaches and an understanding of the distinction between MISA routing and datagram network routing, a MISA inter-domain routing scheme is proposed for use in the pan-European demonstration. The scheme is based on a link-state algorithm tailored to allow for QoS constraints and simple policy routing.