Patent ID: 8265061

Claim:
A method, comprising: assigning at least one first cost for expanding at least one link to a circuit-switched network that is part of a hybrid network comprising the circuit switched network and a packet switched network; representing all paths in the packet switched network as a virtual link in the hybrid network; assigning a second cost to the virtual link, wherein the virtual link connects at least two circuit-switched network devices and wherein the second cost represents that hops within the packet switched network between the at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost; solving an integer programming problem in a computer having a processor and a non-transitory memory to determine a number of links to add to the hybrid network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the hybrid network and a demand forecast matrix, wherein solving the integer programming problem includes determining whether a trunk group is permitted to grow, and wherein solving the integer programming problem includes considering the following variables: a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group.