Patent ID: 8693374

Claim:
A network comprising: a plurality of access nodes to receive network packets from a plurality of subscriber devices; one or more edge routers that couple the network to a core network; a plurality of aggregation nodes to receive the network packets and transport the network packets to the one or more edge routers; and a centralized controller in communication with the plurality of aggregation nodes, the edge routers, and the access nodes, wherein the centralized controller comprises: a topology module that executes a software defined networking (SDN) protocol to receive topology information from the one or more edge routers of the network; and a path computation module (PCM) that computes forwarding information for one or more transport label switched paths (LSPs) in accordance with the topology information, wherein the transport LSPs are for transporting the network packets between the access nodes and the edge routers via the aggregation nodes, wherein each of the aggregation nodes operates a reduced control plane without execution of a layer three (L3) routing protocol that maintains routing information for the aggregation networks and generates forwarding information for the respective aggregation node, and wherein the centralized controller outputs one or more messages to the aggregation nodes to communicate and install within each of the aggregation nodes the forwarding information for the one or more transport LSPs.