Computational experience with a difficult mixed-integer multicommodity flow problem

The following problem arises in the study of lightwave networks. Given a demand matrix containing amounts to be routed between corresponding nodes, the authors wish to design a network with certain topological features, and in this network, route all the demands, so that the maximum load (total flow) on any edge is minimized. As they show, even small instances of this combined design/routing problem are extremely intractable. The authors describe computational experience with a cutting plane algorithm for this problem.