Using Intent Directed Acyclic Graphs in Multi-Domain IP-Optical Networks

The global internet relies on a well-coordinated operation of distinct networking domains. This renders multi-domain networking at the heart of today's massive digital information exchange. Although Software-Defined Networking (SDN) undoubtedly helps advance network operation within a single organization, non-centralized multi-domain networking has received less attention. To significantly advance the state of networking, we are inherently bound to provide progress and evolve the current multi-domain networking scheme. This work exploits the Intent-Based Networking (IBN) paradigm and the Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) data structure to design a novel architecture for multi-domain IP-Optical networking. We highlight the benefits of our approach leading to seamless operation of non-centralized networks, such as optically transparent domain boundaries and cross-domain grooming. We evaluate this approach in a realistic scenario using our novel open-source tool MINDFul.jl, which we shortly introduce and can be broadly used for related research.