In packet switching networks, a connectionless network is a data network in which each data packet carries information in a header that contains a destination address sufficient to permit the independent delivery of the packet to its destination via the network. In a connection-oriented network, the communicating peers must first establish a logical or physical data channel or connection in a dialog preceding the exchange of user data.
A connectionless network has an advantage over a connection-oriented mode in that it has low overhead. It also allows for multicast and broadcast operations, which may save even more network resources when the same data needs to be transmitted to several recipients. In contrast, a connection is always unicast (point-to-point).
A router is a network device configured to route and forward information contained in network packets to another network device. Data networks are highly meshed to provide redundancy. This redundancy means there are multiple routers and multiple paths through the network to get a data packet from a source to a destination.
Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a scheme typically used to enhance an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Routers on the incoming edge of the MPLS network add an ‘MPLS label’ to the top of each packet. This label is based on some criteria (e.g. destination IP address) and is then used to steer it through the subsequent routers. The routers on the outgoing edge strip it off before final delivery of the original packet. MPLS can be used for various benefits such as multiple types of traffic coexisting on the same network, ease of traffic management, faster restoration after a failure, and, potentially, higher performance.
RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol), also known as Resource Reservation Setup Protocol is protocol that supports the reservation of resources across an IP network. Applications running on IP end systems can use RSVP to indicate to other nodes the nature (bandwidth, jitter, maximum burst, and so on) of the packet streams they want to receive.
Networking providers such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) operate one of the largest collections of electrical equipment in the world. NTT is estimated to consume approximately 8.5% of the total power in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. According to some estimates, 15% of all operational expenditures are power-related.
The amount of electrical equipment used by networking providers is due in part to over provisioned networks and additional hardware used for High-Availability requirements. Current network-level optimization solutions focus on bandwidth and quality of service considerations. Additionally, solutions exist for optimizing power usage at an individual network device level (e.g. switch or router). However, these solutions fail to address power usage of an entire network. Accordingly, an improved solution for power usage for data networks would be desirable.