A survey on multi-layer IP and Optical Software-Defined Networks

Abstract As Software-Defined Networks become more and more popular, they start to appear in various architectures. The most common utilization of SDN is to control the network in the electric layers, including OSI/ISO layers 2 and above. However, SDN can be used much further. Professionals and scientists noticed that combining management and control of many layers at the same time can provide benefits. At one point, SDN started to be envisioned for multi-layer networks. In this survey we present, compare and contrast solutions that utilize SDN in multi-layer network architectures. The main objective is to analyze evolving multi-layer network architectures and show how these solutions coupled with SDN contribute to make future networks simple, flexible and cost-effective.