SONET Toolkit: A decision support system for designing robust and cost-effective fiber-optic networks

Bellcore has built the SONET Toolkit decision support software to design robust fiber-optic networks that protect services against the consequences of a cable cut (link) or an equipment failure (node). The Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) makes these survivable designs cost-effective when planned carefully. The SONET Toolkit reads in data about the network, its embedded capacity, the available equipment, the customer demands, and the protection requirements for the services. It can also incorporate planning constraints. It produces an economic mix of SONET self-healing rings and other architectures that satisfy demand and protection requirements. Use of this software system by the Bellcore client companies has saved 10 to 30 percent in costs and orders of magnitude in time.