Recommendation ITU-T G.7712/Y.1703 defines the architecture requirements for a data communication network (DCN) which may support distributed management communications related to the telecommunication management network (TMN), distributed control plane communications (e.g., signalling and routing) related to the automatically switched optical network (ASON), and other distributed communications(e.g., order wire or voice communications, software download). The DCN architecture considers networks that are IP-only, OSI-only, and mixed (i.e., support both IP and OSI). The interworking between parts of the DCN supporting IP-only, parts supporting OSI only, and parts supporting both IP and OSI are also specified.