Patent ID: 8208403

Claim:
A computing device-implemented method, comprising: receiving, from a customer, a request for an end-to-end path through a network; determining parameters of a query based on the request and path criteria, the determining the parameters of the query comprising at least one of: determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of at least one network element, or determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the at least one network element; executing the query, using the determined parameters, on a memory that stores information identifying network elements to be included in one or more end-to-end paths; selecting, based on a result of executing the query and in the memory, information identifying each of one or more network elements of the network elements when the result includes information indicating that the one or more network elements are available for the end-to-end path, the information identifying each of the one or more network elements being not selected when the result includes information indicating that the one or more network elements are not available for the end-to-end path, and the selecting the information identifying each of the one or more network elements comprising: selecting, based on information identifying a location of the customer and from the information identifying each of the network elements stored in the memory, information identifying a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network, the one or more network elements including the LAM; modifying, in the memory, the information identifying each of the one or more network elements to include information indicating that the one or more network elements are reserved for use for the end-to-end path; determining the end-to-end path from the LAM to a service provider associated with the request; and providing the information identifying each of the one or more network elements to a server for activation of the one or more network elements for the end-to-end path.