NETWORK ARCHITECTURE FOR A PACKET AWARE TRANSPORT NETWORK

A method and architecture for Packet-Aware Transport Networks (PATN) which supports both packet and traditional TDM services and which leverages an assemblage of emerging technologies to provide efficient aggregation and switching of packet traffic in metro networks. The PATN provides significant cost savings to carriers by reducing the number of network elements, reducing transport costs through statistical multiplexing, and eliminating the need for redundant multiplexing operations.