Hybrid optical and data networks

1. A method, comprising:

in a data network, receiving from an optical network a list of optical data capacities provisioned between pairs of gateway nodes of the optical network, the gateway nodes being physically connected to nodes of the data network, the optical network being configured to transmit data communications on a plurality of wavelength channels; and

in response to the receiving, transmitting from the data network to the optical network a list of willingness-to-pays, each willingness-to-pay representing a value for increasing the optical data capacity between a corresponding pair of the gateway nodes of the optical network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each gateway node connects one or more of the nodes of the data network via a UNI.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to the receiving, transmitting from the data network to the optical network a value representative of a total willingness-to-pay for optical data capacity in the optical network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining admission and routings of data traffic between pairs of nodes of the data network based on the received list.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining produces the list of willingness-to-pays.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining includes maximizing a selected utility function with respect to traffic admission and routings between pairs of the nodes of the data network.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining an admission control and routing scheme between nodes of the data network based on the received list of provisioned optical data capacities.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining includes producing the list of willingness-to-pays.

9. A method, comprising:

in a multiple wavelength channel optical network, receiving from a data network both a list of willingness-to-pays and a value of an object, each willingness-to-pay representing a value for increased optical data capacity between a corresponding pair of gateway nodes of the optical network, the value of the object representing a total willingness of the data network to pay for bandwith in the optical network;

producing a list of provisions for optical data capacities between the pairs of said gateway nodes based on said received list; and

transmitting said produced list of provisions for optical data capacities to the data network.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising reconfiguring the number of wavelength channels provisioned along optical links of the optical network in a manner that is responsive to the received list of willingness-to-pays.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein each willingness-to-pay is indicative of a willingness of the data network to pay for a unit of increased data capacity between the corresponding pair of gateway nodes.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the producing further comprises determining routings of optical data traffic between pairs of the gateway nodes based on the received list.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the producing includes maximizing a selected objective function with respect to provisioned optical capacities between pairs of the gateway nodes based on the received list and value of the object.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the optical network is a wavelength-division-multiplexed optical network.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising repeating the receiving, producing, and transmitting steps to improve end-to-end routing in a hybrid network, the hybrid network including the data network and the optical network.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising repeating the receiving, producing, and transmitting steps to enable the data network to improve admission control of traffic between nodes of the data network.

17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising repeating the receiving, producing, and transmitting steps to enable the data network to improve routing of traffic between nodes of the data network.