Virtual source-based minimum interference path multicast routing in optical virtual private networks

Virtual Private Network (VPN) services over the Internet are gaining increased acceptance due to the economic benefits and flexibility. However, with difficulties of providing sufficient transmission capacity for value-added and mission-critical services, the Optical VPN (OVPN) deploying Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology has been seen as a favorable approach for realizing the future VPN services. In an OVPN, the Routing and Wavelength Assignment problem plays a key role for capacity utilization and therefore the Multicast Routing and Wavelength Assignment problem has been the dominant issue in a DWDM-based OVPN. In this paper, using Virtual Source (VS) nodes that have splitting and wavelength conversion capabilities, we propose a new Multicast Routing and Wavelength Assignment method for multicast sessions. The algorithm combines the VS-based tree generation approach with Multi-Wavelength Minimum Interference Path Routing (MW-MIPR) that chooses a path that does not interfere too much with potential future multicast session requests.