Patent ID: 7646706

Claim:
A network-manager-implemented method, comprising: the network manager receiving one or more demands for service in a mesh network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links; the network manager specifying a threshold corresponding to a maximum number of failure-related cross-connections at a node in the network; and the network manager mapping each of the one or more demands onto a primary path and a restoration path in the network to generate a path plan for the one or more demands in the network, wherein: reduction of a portion of restoration time associated with failure-related cross-connections in the network is taken into account during the mapping; the mapping generates the path plan based on the specified threshold such that, for all nodes in the mesh network, the number of failure-related cross-connections at each node is no more than the specified threshold; and the mapping results in a maximum number of failure-related cross-connections at all nodes in the network being within a specified tolerance of a theoretical minimum.