Patent ID: 7852863

Claim:
An Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON), comprising: a plurality of nodes in a domain utilizing ASON for connections, wherein each of the plurality of nodes comprise one of a border node and an interior node; a routing controller located at a node of the plurality of nodes; a plurality of internal Network Node Interface links interconnecting the plurality of nodes; one or more external Network Node Interfaces at each border node, wherein the external Network Node Interface connects to a node in another domain; a client connected to a node of the plurality of nodes with a User to Network Interface; and an ASON database at each of the plurality of nodes comprising topology and routing information, wherein the topology and routing information in the ASON database at each of the plurality of nodes is synchronized through the internal Network Node Interface links; wherein the node connected to the client receives external Network Node Interface (NNI) and User to Network Interface (UNI) provisioning from the client and stores the NNI and UNI provisioning in the ASON database at the node connected to the client and forwards the NNI and UNI provisioning to other nodes of the plurality of nodes through the plurality of internal Network Node Interface links.