The introduction of all-optical switching in datacenter internal networks (DCNs) marks a significant step toward overcoming the limitations of traditional electronic switching. However, challenges such as limited optical switch port counts and slow reconfiguration speeds demand new architectural approaches. In this paper, we propose a DCN fabric based on a “Lean” optical switch design that offers scalable, partially configurable switching. This architecture supports fast reconfiguration suitable for real-time scheduling and network control, while optimizing hardware complexity. To achieve this, we relax the non-blocking network constraint and adopt partially configurable switching modules, which reduce control complexity by limiting the scheduler's configuration space. We compare the proposed Lean network against two established optical DCN architectures: RotorNet, which relies on fully distributed control with minimal configurability, and optical Folded-Clos, which employs centralized control and fully reconfigurable optical crossbars. These architectures span different design trade-offs in terms of control and switching complexity. Our Lean design strikes a balance between the two, combining their respective benefits—offering moderate configurability, fast reconfiguration, and reduced control overhead. We analyze the crosspoint and scheduling complexities of all three architectures and evaluate their throughput and latency performance through packet level simulations.
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