Journal Paper

This paper introduces a novel and simplified cost model for designing and evaluating a Central Office Rearchitected as a Datacenter (CORD). The model includes equipment and elements for the realization of optical, packet switching, and data center parts with a special focus not only on relative costs but also on power consumption figures. The cost model is then applied to the design and comparison of a metropolitan area network (MAN) including both aggregation and metrocore nodes following several MAN node architectures based on CORD-like leaf-and-spine fabric. In particular, equipment disaggregation at the Central Offices, both on the packet-switching and optical components, can provide important cost savings to telco operators. On the other hand, incorporating computing/storage capabilities in the MAN for the realization of multiaccess edge computing (MEC) has a significant impact on the total network cost but especially on power consumption.