Recently widespread interest in information infrastructures has heightened interest in the high performance achievable in multichannel optical networks. WDM networks offer potential advantages, including higher aggregate bandwidth per fiber, new flexibility for automated network management and control, noise immunity, transparency to different data formats and protocols, low bit-error rates, and better network configurability and survivability--all leading to more cost-effective networks.
In the last several years, truely astounding progress has been made in optical device technology. These devices have their own advantages and disadvantages depending on the specific system's requirements. The research challenges in multichannel optical networks involve novel approaches to build cost-effective networks from these available device components. The main focus of this workshop is to bring together some of the best researchers working on the theoretic and practical aspects of network design problems. Such problems include network architecture, interconnection design, medium access control, channel assignment, wavelength routing, scalability analysis, reconfigurability analysis, cost-performance analysis, network management, etc.. They involve combinatorial design and combinatorial optimization. Finding the solution, the optimal solution, the approximation solution to such problems is challenging because the problems are, in general, cannot be solved in polynomial time.
This workshop will feature application of theoretical/algorithmic results to practical problems as well as influence of practical problems to theoretical/algorithmic studies. There has been a strong relationship between theory, algorithms, and applications. However, the contact between the theorists, algorithmists, and practitioners has been limited. This proposed workshop represents a step towards improving contacts and promoting cross-fertilization between the theorists, algorithmists, and practitioners.
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