<s>
Automatic	O
Switched	O
Transport	O
Network	O
(	O
ASTN	B-Protocol
)	O
allows	O
traffic	O
paths	O
to	O
be	O
set	O
up	O
through	O
a	O
switched	O
network	O
automatically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
ASTN	B-Protocol
replaces	O
the	O
term	O
ASON	B-Protocol
(	O
Automatically	B-Protocol
Switched	I-Protocol
Optical	I-Protocol
Network	I-Protocol
)	O
and	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
interchangeably	O
with	O
GMPLS	O
(	O
Generalized	O
MPLS	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
not	O
completely	O
correct	O
as	O
GMPLS	O
is	O
a	O
family	O
of	O
protocols	O
,	O
but	O
ASON/ASTN	O
is	O
an	O
optical/transport	O
network	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
requirements	O
of	O
the	O
ASON/ASTN	O
architecture	O
can	O
be	O
satisfied	O
using	O
GMPLS	O
protocols	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
IETF	O
or	O
by	O
GMPLS	O
protocols	O
that	O
have	O
been	O
modified	O
by	O
the	O
ITU	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
GMPLS	O
is	O
a	O
wider	O
concept	O
than	O
ASTN	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
ASTN	B-Protocol
allows	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
specify	O
the	O
start	O
point	O
,	O
end	O
point	O
and	O
bandwidth	O
required	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
ASTN	B-Protocol
agent	O
on	O
the	O
Network	O
Elements	O
will	O
allocate	O
the	O
path	O
through	O
the	O
network	O
,	O
provisioning	O
the	O
traffic	O
path	O
,	O
setting	O
up	O
cross-connects	O
,	O
and	O
allocating	O
bandwidth	O
from	O
the	O
paths	O
for	O
the	O
user	O
requested	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Changes	O
to	O
the	O
network	O
(	O
adding/removing	O
nodes	O
)	O
will	O
be	O
taken	O
into	O
account	O
by	O
the	O
ASTN	B-Protocol
agents	O
in	O
the	O
network	O
,	O
but	O
do	O
not	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
considered	O
by	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GMPLS	O
consist	O
of	O
several	O
protocols	O
,	O
including	O
routing	O
protocols	O
(	O
OSPF-TE	B-Protocol
or	O
ISIS-TE	O
)	O
,	O
link	O
management	O
protocols	O
(	O
LMP	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
reservation/label	O
distribution	O
protocol	O
(	O
RSVP-TE	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
reservation/label	O
distribution	O
protocol	O
CR-LDP	B-Protocol
has	O
now	O
been	O
deprecated	O
by	O
the	O
IETF	O
in	O
RFC	O
3468	O
(	O
February	O
2003	O
)	O
and	O
IETF	O
GMPLS	O
working	O
group	O
decided	O
to	O
focus	O
purely	O
on	O
RSVP-TE	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
