Capacity planning in a backbone network

A system comprising:

• an input data processor configured to:
• receive demand data characterizing network demand projections for a backbone network, the demand data comprising, for each demand projection, a first node in the backbone network, a second node in the backbone network, a time period, and a projected network demand associated with the first and second nodes for the time period;
• receive supply data characterizing network supply availabilities for the backbone network, the supply data comprising, for each supply availability, a cable in the backbone network comprised of at least one segment, a first node in the backbone network associated with the cable, a second node in the backbone network associated with the cable, a time period, and an available capacity associated with the cable for the time period;
• receive data characterizing network cable costs for the backbone network, the cost data comprising, for each network cable cost, a cable, an upfront cost amount, a recurring cost amount;
• and
• receive failure data characterizing network failure scenarios, the failure data comprising, for each failure scenario, at least one segment;
• a network flow assignor configured to determine, for each time period in the demand data and supply data, a needed capacity for each of the cables in the backbone network by:
• assigning, for each of the failure scenarios in the failure data, a network flow to each of the cables based on the failure scenario, wherein the network flow assigned to each cable is less than or equal to the available capacity for that cable for the time period, and wherein the demand for the time period associated with each pair of first and second nodes is satisfied by the assigned flow between the first and second node;
• and
• determining, for each cable in the backbone network, a needed capacity for the cable for the time period based on the network flows assigned to the cable for each of the failure scenarios;
• and
• a capacity provisioning optimizer configured to generate, based on the needed capacity of each cable in the backbone network for each time period and the upfront cost amount and recurring cost amount associated with each cable, a capacity provisioning plan comprised of a provisioned capacity for each cable at each time period.

A computer-readable storage medium storage instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, at a computing system, demand data characterizing network demand projections for a backbone network, the demand data comprising, for each demand projection, a first node in the backbone network, a second node in the backbone network, a time period, and a projected network demand associated with the first and second nodes for the time period;
• receiving, at the computing system, supply data characterizing network supply availabilities for the backbone network, the supply data comprising, for each supply availability, a cable in the backbone network comprised of at least one segment, a first node in the backbone network associated with the cable, a second node in the backbone network associated with the cable, a time period, and an available capacity associated with the cable for the time period;
• receiving, at the computing system, cost data characterizing network cable costs for the backbone network, the cost data comprising, for each network cable cost, a cable, an upfront cost amount, and a recurring cost amount;
• receiving, at the computing system, failure data characterizing network failure scenarios, the failure data comprising, for each failure scenario, at least one segment;
• and
• identifying needed capacities for the backbone network by:
• determining, for each time period in the demand data and supply data, a needed capacity for each of the cables in the backbone network by:
• assigning, for each of the failure scenarios in the failure data, a network flow to each of the cables based on the failure scenario, wherein the network flow assigned to each cable is less than or equal to the available capacity for that cable for the time period, and wherein the demand for the time period associated with each pair of first and second nodes is satisfied by the assigned flow between the first and second node;
• and
• determining, for each cable in the backbone network, a needed capacity for the cable for the time period based on the network flows assigned to the cable for each of the failure scenarios;
• and
• generating, based on the needed capacity of each cable in the backbone network for each time period and the upfront cost amount and recurring cost amount associated with each cable, a capacity provisioning plan comprised of a provisioned capacity for each cable at each time period.