Optical switching network

1. An all-optical transmission system, comprising:

an optical switch matrix;

a plurality of optical components communicating over the optical switch matrix;

and a top of rack (ToR) switch coupled to each optical components, each ToR communicating with the optical components and with other ToR switches;

wherein the optical component comprises a send circuit and a receive circuit, the send circuit comprising:

a ToR transceiver to receive data;

a multiplexer coupled to the ToR transceiver;

a Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) coupled to the multiplexer; and

a circulator coupled to the WSS.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical switch matrix performs hop-to-hop routing.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein traffic that cannot be provisioned with a direct end-to-end circuit is routed to a destination by traversing multiple hops or TOR switches.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein each TOR switch is coupled to servers.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein each TOR switch receives traffic destined for servers located in its own rack, and forwards transit traffic targeted at servers residing in other racks.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising an inter-ToR port coupled to transceivers associated with a fixed wavelength for sending and receiving data.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical components support on-demand provisioning of connectivity and capacity where required in a network.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical component comprises a Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) and a circulator.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the WSS partitions a set of wavelengths coming in through a common port among available wavelength ports.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the send circuit and receive circuit capacities are independent of each other.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the send circuit and receive circuit is associated with a unique wavelength to use wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).

12. The system of claim 1 , comprising a network manager coupled to the optical component.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network manager adjusts network topology.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network manager assigns pairs with heavy communications to direct links.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network manager identifies routing paths and sends all the ToRs these paths in order to set up their routing tables.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical switch matrix comprises micro-electrical-mechanical-systems (MEMS) switches to route optical signals by mechanically adjusting micro mirrors.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical switch matrix comprises bipartite switching matrices where any input port can be connected to any output port.

18. The system of claim 1 , comprising a supplementary electrical network or wireless network coupled to the optical transmission system.

19. An all-optical transmission system, comprising:

an optical switch matrix;

a plurality of optical components communicating over the optical switch matrix; and

a top of rack (ToR) switch coupled to each optical components, each ToR communicating with the optical components and with other ToR switches;

wherein the optical component comprises a send circuit and a receive circuit, the receive circuit comprising;

a circulator coupled to the optical switch matrix;

a coupler coupled to the circulator;

a demultiplexer coupled to the coupler; and

a ToR transceiver coupled to the demultiplexer.