The ASON approach to the control plane for optical networks

The paper gives an overview of the automatically switched optical network (ASON), concentrating on its control plane. Drivers for automatically switched optical networks are briefly presented. The ASON architecture, based on transport, control, and management planes, is discussed. Types of connections supported by ASON are described, including permanent, switched, and soft permanent connections. Different kinds of internal and external interfaces are presented. Various issues related to the ASON control plane are enumerated.