Reconfigurable mesh interconnect for hybrid electrical-optical connectivity between regional data centers

A method comprising steps of:

• interconnecting a plurality of data centers with a regional hub networking node via an optical bypass system;
• configuring an optical switching layer in the optical bypass system, wherein the optical switching layer is configured to receive a plurality of channels from each of the plurality of data centers, and to switch the plurality of channels from each of the plurality of data centers (1) between one another for optical bypass and (2) to an electrical switching fabric at the regional hub networking node;
• configuring wavelengths on corresponding optical transceivers for each of the plurality of channels from each of the plurality of data centers, wherein the corresponding optical transceivers comprise pluggable coherent optical transceivers housed in electrical switches at the plurality of data centers;
• configuring wavelength switching in the optical switching layer;
• and determining packet forwarding between the corresponding optical transceivers,
• wherein configuring the wavelengths includes computing a wavelength assignment that avoids wavelength collisions through the optical switching layer and assigns wavelengths to prevent blocking on links between the plurality of data centers and on ports of the optical switching layer, and
• wherein the packet forwarding between the corresponding optical transceivers is configured in an Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) group, and wherein the controller configures the ECMP group to distribute inter-data-center traffic on a per-flow basis across multiple equal-cost paths including at least one optically bypassed path and at least one path through the electrical switching fabric at the regional hub networking node, such that individual flows are restricted to a single selected path to prevent packet reordering.