the present invention claims priority benefit of u . s . provisional patent application entitled “ spare capacity allocation method , analysis and algorithms ”, ser . no . 60 / 224 , 246 filed aug . 10 , 2000 . the disclosure of the technical papers comprising the provisional application are attached as an appendix and are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . throughout this disclosure , the term “ spare provision matrix ” or “ provision matrix ” will be substituted for the term “ spare sharing matrix ” which was used in the provisional application . fig1 illustrates a spare provision matrix ( c ) according to an embodiment of the present invention . the spare provision matrix of fig1 corresponds to the network 100 consisting of five nodes ( labeled a through e ) interconnected by seven links ( numbered 1 through 7 ) with the given topology . fig1 further illustrates a working - path - link - incidence matrix ( a ) for the network 100 , the transpose of a backup - path - link - incidence matrix ( b t ) for the network 100 , a vector ( m ) 115 representing the capacity requirements for all traffic flows within the network 100 , a vector w 105 representing the working capacity allocation of the network 100 , and a vector ( s ) 110 representing the spare capacity allocation required for all the links within the network 100 . in the present embodiment , the network 100 is considered as a non - directed network with traffic flows between all the node pairs 101 ( i . e ., node pairs a - b , a - c , . . . d - e ). a node pair has a source node (“ src ”) and a destination node (“ dst ”). it should be noted that a node within the node pair can act as both a source node and as a destination node , however for the present embodiment , the node pair need only be modeled once . the assignment of which node within the node pair is the source or destination for the present embodiment is irrelevant . for example , node “ a ” is placed in the “ src ” column and node “ b ” is placed in the “ dst ” column for node pair a - b . however , if node “ a ” was placed in the “ dst ” column and node “ b ” was placed in the “ src ” column , the results would be the same . each node pair is given a flow number corresponding to a traffic flow between the nodes in the node pair . for example in the present embodiment , the flow number “ 1 ” is assigned to the node pair a - b , whereas the flow number “ 8 ” is assigned to the node pair c - d . the term “ link - disjoint ,” as mentioned above , refers to two traffic flows that do not share a common link in their working paths . referring to the network in fig1 for example , the traffic flows having a working path a - b - c ( using links 1 and 3 ) is said to be link - disjoint from the traffic flow having a working path e - d ( using link 7 ). it should be clear to one skilled in the art that the number of nodes and links , their relative topology , and the non - directed traffic flow of the network are chosen only as an exemplary illustration of the present embodiment , and in no way is intended to limit the scope of the present invention . it should also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented for any network , regardless of the network &# 39 ; s size or topology , among others . finally , it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the general layout of the spare provision matrix , or the components used to create the spare provision matrix , may be altered while remaining within the scope of the present invention . a vector a r =[ a r , 1 , a r , 2 , . . . , a r , l ] represents a working path for each node pair 101 having a traffic flow r . for vector a r , r represents the flow number where 1 ≦ r ≦ d , where d is the current number of flows in the network 100 . the elements a r , l are binary indicator functions that are equal to “ 1 ”, if and only if , the working path of the corresponding node pair uses link 1 , where l represents the total number of links in the network 100 . referring to fig1 for example , links 3 and 5 are part of the working path for node pair b - d , the sixth flow in the given network . thus a 6 =[ 0 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 ], where only the elements corresponding to links 3 and 5 have a value of 1 . the working path is then aggregated with the working paths of the other node pairs into a working - path - link - incidence matrix a =[ a 1 t , a 2 t , . . . , a d t ] t . in a similar manner , a backup path for each node pair is determined and aggregated into backup - path - link - incidence matrix b . as previously noted , “ determine ”, as referred to in this disclosure , is intended to include calculating , inferring , and assuming , among others . the working - path - link - incidence matrix , a , for the given network 100 topology is shown in fig1 . the matrix a contains ten rows , each row corresponding to the individual traffic flows between node pairs 101 . the matrix a also contains seven columns corresponding to links 1 through 7 . in addition to aggregating the vectors a r , the matrix a can be directly created . the value “ 1 ” is entered into matrix a , if and only if , the traffic flow for the particular node pair traverses the particular link . the value “ 0 ” is entered into matrix a if the traffic flow for the particular node pair 101 does not traverse the particular link . for example , traffic flow between node pair a - b is accomplished over link 1 . as such , the value “ 1 ” is entered into the matrix a location referring to node pair a - b and link 1 ( i . e ., row 1 , col . 1 ). the value “ 0 ” is entered into the matrix a locations representing node pair a - b and links 2 - 7 ( i . e ., row 1 , cols . 2 - 7 ). likewise , traffic flow between node pair a - c traverses link 1 and link 3 . therefore , the value “ 1 ” is entered into the matrix a locations referring to node pair a - c and link 1 ( row 2 , col . 1 ) and node pair a - c and link 3 ( row 2 , col . 3 ). the value “ 0 ” is entered into the matrix a locations representing node pair a - c and the other , non - traversed links . the process is repeated for each node pair 101 to complete the working - path - link - incidence matrix a . it should be noted that the present invention can be used in conjunction with any method or algorithm for determining the working path for each node pair . for example , a shortest path algorithm can be used to determine the working paths for each node pair , the working paths then being used to determine the working - path - link - incidence matrix a . the backup - path - link - incidence matrix , b , is constructed in a manner similar to the manner in which matrix a is constructed . as mentioned above , matrix b can be constructed by aggregating a series of vectors , b 1 , b 2 , . . . , b d , that represent backup paths for all the node pairs 101 having a backup traffic flow ., as b =[ b 1 t , b 2 t , . . . , b d t ] t . matrix b can also be directly constructed . the following discussion will be limited to directly constructing the transposed matrix b t of said backup path link - incidence matrix b . matrix b t , for the present embodiment , has seven rows corresponding to links 1 through 7 and ten columns corresponding to the individual traffic flows over the node pairs 101 . the value “ 1 ” is entered into matrix b t , if and only if , the backup traffic flow for the particular node pair 101 traverses the particular link . the value “ 0 ” is entered into matrix b t if the backup traffic flow for the particular node pair 101 does not traverse the particular link . for example , a backup path is chosen for node pair a - b that uses link 2 and link 4 . as such , the value “ 1 ” is entered into the backup - path - link - incidence matrix b t locations referring to node pair a - b and link 2 ( row 2 col . 1 ) and node pair a - b and link 4 ( row 4 , col . 1 ). the value “ 0 ” is entered into the matrix b t locations representing node pair a - b and the other , non - traversed links . likewise , a backup path for node pair a - c is chosen that uses links 2 , 5 , and 7 . the value “ 1 ” is entered into the backup - path - link - incidence matrix locations referring to node pair a - c and link 2 ( row 2 col . 2 ), link 5 ( row 5 , col . 2 ) and link 7 ( row 7 , col . 2 ). the value “ 0 ” is entered into the matrix b t locations representing node pair a - c and the other , non - traversed links . the process is continued for each node pair 101 until the transposed backup - path - link - incidence matrix b t is completed . it should be noted that the present invention can be used in conjunction with any method or algorithm for determining the backup path for each node pair 101 . for example , a shortest path algorithm can be used to determine the backup path for each node pair 101 , the backup paths then being used to determine the backup - path - link - incidence matrix b . after the working - path - link - incidence matrix a and the backup - path - link - incidence matrix b are constructed , the spare provision matrix c is determined . in the present embodiment , the spare provision matrix is the found using the equation c = b t · diag ( m )· a , where c represents the spare provision matrix , b t represents the transposed backup - path - link - incidence matrix , diag ( m ) converts the vector m 115 to a diagonal square matrix with elements of m in the main diagonal , and a represents the working - path - link - incidence matrix . it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the vector m can be used to represent network resources other than capacity . for example , the vector m may represent a network &# 39 ; s delay , wavelength , and buffer size among others . changing the quantity that vector m represents also changes the quantity / resource represented by matrix c . thus , matrix c can be viewed as a resource provisioning template . each element , c ij , in matrix c represents the minimum spare capacity required on link i when link j fails . for the spare capacity matrix c representing the network topology given in fig1 for example , a failure of link # 2 requires the following minimum spare capacity for the other links : link 1 = 2 ( i . e ., c 1 , 2 = 2 ), link 3 = 1 ( i . e ., c 3 , 2 = 1 ), link 4 = 1 ( i . e ., c 4 , 2 = 1 ), link 5 = 1 ( i . e ., c 5 , 2 = 1 ), link 6 = 0 ( i . e ., c 6 , 2 = 0 ), and link 7 = 0 ( i . e ., c 7 , 2 = 0 ). the network designer , therefore , can determine the minimum amount of spare capacity required for a link i should link j fail . the total working capacity requirement for the network 100 is obtained from the working - path - link - incidence matrix a . the working capacity for said links are represented by a vector w =[ w 1 , w 2 , . . . , w l ]. the working capacity of a given link i is represented by w i , where w i = sum ( a r , i × m r ) for a r , i for 1 ≦ r ≦ d . in other words , w i equals the sum of the entries of column i in matrix a if the traffic demands of all node pairs are at the same value of one . the vector w for the given network 100 is w =[ 2 , 2 , 3 , 1 , 2 , 1 , 2 ]. the total working capacity requirement for the network 100 is easily derived by summing the elements in vector w . therefore , the total working capacity requirement for network 100 is thirteen . the total , minimum spare capacity requirement for all links in the network 100 is found using vector s =[ s 1 , s 2 , . . . s l ], 104 where s i = max c ij for 1 ≦ j ≦ l . in other words , s i equals the maximum value within the row i of spare provision matrix c . the vector s for the given network 100 is s =[ 2 , 2 , 1 , 1 , 2 , 1 , 2 ]. the total spare capacity requirement for the given network 100 is easily derived by summing the elements of vector s . therefore , the total spare capacity requirement for the network 100 is eleven . several other issues facing the network designer solving the spare capacity allocation problem are represented by the spare provision matrix c . the non - uniform flow demands are easily combined in vector m 115 as shown above . moreover , for asymmetric traffic demands , directed links must be used in the spare provision matrix c ; this doubles l ( i . e ., the total number of links in the network ) and requires each failure scenario to include two links in both directions . furthermore , the per - flow based state information can be aggregated into spare provision matrix c . if there is traffic flow r with certain working path a r and backup path b r , their contribution to the matrix c is a l × l matrix c r = a r · b r t where “·” is a vector product operation which takes a row vector on its left hand side and a column vector on its right hand side to produce a matrix . the spare provision matrix c is easily derived from the summation of the contributions c r of all flows and it is the only information required for spare capacity sharing in sca problem . per - flow based information in a and b t are no longer necessary for the spare capacity sharing operation . this not only demonstrates the scalability of the spare provision matrix method , but also provides enhanced privacy among different traffic flows in an opened network environment . in the present embodiment , the spare provision matrix c is determined using a computing system having a processor , a memory , an input / output device , and a data storage device among others . the computing system can be any personal computer , mainframe , calculator , switch , router , and relay among others . the processor is any device capable of executing an instruction or series of instructions ( for example instructions encoded into a computer program , etc .) to obtain a result . the memory is any device that is capable of storing information such as random - access - memory ( ram ), read - only - memory ( rom ), dynamic - random - access - memory ( dram ), and flash memory among others . the input / output device is a keyboard , sensor , scanner , touch pad , printer , display , terminal , and wire carrier among others . the data storage device is any optical disc drive , magnetic disc drive and magnetic tape drive among others . in the present embodiment , information representing the node pairs , traffic flows , links , and network topology among others is entered into a computer system using an input device . the information is stored in the memory and data storage device . the processor accesses the information , determines the spare provision matrix ( among others ), stores the result in the data storage device , and delivers the result to an output device . it should be clear to one skilled in the art , that the spare provision matrix c can be determined manually , through the use of other automated systems , or a through a combination thereof . the description of the present embodiment is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention to a specific apparatus of determining the spare provision matrix c . [ 0054 ] fig2 illustrates operational process 200 for creating a spare provision matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention . operational process 200 is initiated by operational process 201 . in an embodiment of the present invention , operation 201 is triggered by a user during the network design phase . it should be clear to one skilled in the art that the operational process 200 can be triggered automatically ( such as by a computer program among others ) and can be triggered at a time other than the network design phase while still remaining within the scope of the present invention . operational control is then assumed by operation 202 . operation 202 sets r equal to 1 , where r represents a traffic flow number . in the current embodiment , 1 ≦ r ≦ d where d is the current number of traffic flows in the network . operational control is then passed to operation 203 . operation 203 retrieves the working path for the traffic flow r . the working path contains a source node , a destination node , and an interconnecting working path link . in the current embodiment of the present invention , the working path is previously determined on each individual traffic flow r using methods common in the art , such as a shortest path algorithm among others . using a shortest path algorithm , the working path is determined to be one of the shortest paths that have link - disjoint alternative paths . it should be noted that other schemes can be used to determine the working path for the traffic flow r . as an alternative to retrieving a previously determined working path for traffic flow r , operation 203 determines the working path for the traffic flow r . operational control is assumed by operation 204 after the working path is retrieved for traffic flow r in operation 203 . operation 204 aggregates the working path of traffic flow r into a first matrix . in the current embodiment , the working path of traffic flow r is aggregated into a working - path - link - incidence matrix . the elements of the working - path - link - incidence matrix represent whether a link is used to carry traffic flow between a specific node pair during normal operation . an element of the working - path - link - incidence matrix is assigned the value “ 1 ” if a link is used to carry the traffic flow of the corresponding node pair during normal operation . if the link is not used to carry the traffic flow of the corresponding node pair during normal operation , a value “ 0 ” is assigned to the matrix element . operational control is then assumed by operation 205 . operation 205 retrieves the backup path for traffic flow r . the backup path for traffic flow r contains the same source and destination nodes as the working path . the backup path , however , contains a backup path link instead of the working path link . in the current embodiment of the present invention , the backup path is determined prior to implementing operational process 200 using methods common in the art . for example , a shortest path algorithm , in conjunction with the network state and the working path , is used . as such , a backup path will not contain a link that has previously failed or a link that is used by the working path for the particular traffic flow r . the backup path is then stored in a database within the system for retrieval by operation 205 . as an alternative to retrieving a previously determined backup path for traffic flow r , operation 205 determines the backup path for the traffic flow r . operational control is then passed to operation 206 . operation 206 aggregates the backup path r found in operation 205 into a second matrix . in the current embodiment , the backup path r is aggregated into a backup - path - link matrix . the elements of the backup - path - link - incidence matrix represent whether a link is used to carry traffic flow between a specific node pair during backup operation . an element of the working - path - link - incidence matrix is assigned the value “ 1 ” if a link is used to carry the traffic flow of the corresponding node pair during backup operation . if the link in not used to carry the traffic flow of the corresponding node pair during backup operation , a value “ 0 ” is assigned to the matrix element . operational control is then assumed by determination operation 207 . determination operation 207 ascertains whether there are any more traffic flows for which a working path and a backup path need to be retrieved . if the current traffic flow is not the last to have working path and backup path information gathered , operational control branches no and operation 208 assumes control . operation 208 adds 1 to the value of r . operational control is then passed to operation 202 , and operations 202 through 207 are repeated . in the current embodiment , a working path and backup path is retrieved for each traffic flow within the network . in an alternative embodiment , a working path and a backup path is determined for less than each traffic flow used by the network . if the current traffic flow is the last to have working path and backup path information gathered , operational control branches yes and operation 209 assumes control . operation 209 creates a spare provision matrix using the first matrix created in operation 204 and the second matrix created in operation 206 . in the current embodiment , the working - path - link - incidence matrix and the backup - path - link - incidence matrix are used to produce a spare provision matrix . the spare provision matrix is used to determine the total backup path capacity requirement , among others . the spare provision matrix replaces the per - flow based information ( represented by the working - path - link incidence matrix and the backup - path - link - incidence matrix ) is used to perform the spare capacity sharing operation in the network . operational control is then assumed by operation 210 . operation 210 terminates operational process 200 . [ 0063 ] fig3 is an illustration of a fault management table (“ fmt ”) containing information obtained using a successive survivability routing scheme (“ ssr ”) according to an embodiment of the present invention . each link has an associated fmt stored on the network . for example the fmt of associated with a link is located within the source node of the link or within a central database ( among others ). the fmt and is used to store and calculate the spare provision matrix c , and further , to find the spare capacity allocation on each link as protection against any single link failure . information stored within a fmt of link l includes the working paths used by node pairs whose backup path uses this link l , and the minimum spare capacity values required on link l for protecting the failure of any other links . in the present embodiment , the fmt resides on each link , is updated to reflect changing network conditions , and is used during network restoration implementation . as previously mentioned , network restoration can be accomplished using path restoration techniques . path restoration refers to rerouting traffic within the source and destination nodes . a problem facing network designers utilizing path restoration is determining the amount of spare capacity and placement of the link - disjoint backup paths necessary to implement the path restoration plan . network designers use the information within the fmts as a way to determine a path - link integer programming model for the spare capacity allocation problem of the network . the path restoration with link - disjoint backup path problem can be formulated as a path - link model . the path - link model is used to derive several formulas that represent the spare capacity allocation problem face by network designers . the path - link model has design variables that represent the links and the backup paths of the traffic demands on the network &# 39 ; s node pairs . a directed graph ( n , l ), where n and l are the node set and the link set , respectively , is used for a network . the total number of nodes is represented by n =| n |. likewise , the total number of links is represented by l =| l |. the value c l represents the unit cost of link l , for l ∈ l . furthermore , the value d denotes a set of traffic demand pairs where d ⊂( n × n ), and where d =| d |≦ n ×( n − 1 ) if only bidirectional , point - to - point traffic demand pairs are considered . a traffic demand pair is a node pair consisting of a source and destination node having a traffic demand ( i . e ., traffic flow ) there between . in the path - link model , the demand node pair r ( where r ∈ d ) requires m r units of traffic demands with a restoration level of γ r . for an embodiment of the present invention , the following values are assigned : c l = 1 , m r = 1 , and γ r = 100 %. each demand node pair r ∈ x , has a value p r , which denotes a candidate set of loop - free backup paths that are link - disjoint from the given working path . p r is precalculated using methods common in the art . for example in a network without working links , a floyd - warshall algorithm ( an all - pairs shortest path algorithm ) can be used to find all feasible backup paths for all node pairs . the p th path in the path set p r is represented by a binary path - link indicator δ l r , p , where δ l r , p = 1 , if and only if , path p includes link l . in the current embodiment , only single link failures are assumed ; as such , d f represents the set of affected traffic demand pairs upon the failure of link f . the required spare capacity for each backup path is decided by a binary flow allocation variable x r , p , where x r , p = 1 , if and only if , path p in p r is used for backup of traffic flow r . the reserved spare capacity s l on link l is determined from the backup flow allocation x r , p and m r . as previously mentioned , prior art methods use an integer programming (“ ip ”) model to represent the spare capacity allocation problem . the following formulas can be derived from the ip model which represent the spare capacity allocation problem . the objective function of the first equation is the minimization of the total cost of the reserved spare capacity for the network . equation ( 1 ) is as follows : min  ∑ l ∈ ℒ  c l  s l ( 1 ) constraints present in the second equation on the other hand , guarantee that one and only one backup path exists for the traffic demand r . equation ( 2 ) is as follows : ∑ p ∈  r  x r , p = 1   ∀ r ∈  ( 2 ) the constraints present in equation ( 3 ) reflect that the total spare capacity reserved on the link s l is the maximum of the total required spare capacity over all failure scenarios involving link l . for example if link 1 is used by backup paths of several node pairs , equation ( 3 ) gives the total spare capacity that must be found to restore traffic flow for each node pair that uses link 1 . equation ( 3 ) is as follows : s l ≥ ∑ r ∈  f  ( m r  ∑ p ∈  r  δ l r , p  x r , p ) ,  ∀ l , f ∈ ℒ , l ≠ f ( 3 ) this ip model formulation is np - hard . in other words , it is topology - dependent and does not scale with n , l , and d . therefore , this ip model is difficult to adapt to larger networks . in an embodiment of the present invention , s , is removed and a new objective formulation with constraints equivalent to that of equation ( 2 ) ( i . e ., that one and only one backup path per traffic demand r ) is determined . the new objective function , written as equation ( 4 ), is as follows : min  ∑ l ∈ ℒ  c l  [ max f ∈ ℒ - { l }  { ∑ r ∈  f  ( m r  ∑ p ∈  r  δ l r , p  x r , p ) } ] ( 4 ) the maximum spare capacity value found within the brackets in equation ( 4 ) is easily explained using a fault management table (“ fmt ”). the fmt contains a matrix m l , a vector v l , and spare capacity s l . it should be clear to one skilled in the art that other information may also be stored in the fmt . the matrix m l , called a failure impact matrix , has ( l − 1 ) rows indexed by all the other ( l − 1 ) links in the network . the entity p r denotes the index number of selected backup path for a traffic flow r ∈ d , or equivalently , p r = arg q = p r ( x r , q = 1 ). the traffic flows whose backup paths include link l are used to index the columns in m l . such flow set is denoted as f l = { r : δ l r , p r = 1 , r ∈  } . the element on row f and column r , m l f , r , is equal to one or zero depending on whether the working path of traffic flow r ∈ f l includes link f or not , where f ∈ l −{ l }. the vector , v l , is a column vector with l − 1 elements . the f - th element v l f gives the traffic demand to be restored when link f fails . the minimum spare capacity required on link l when link f fails can be written as : v l f = ∑ r ∈ f l  m l f , r  m r . therefore , it is clear that the spare capacity to be reserved on this link , s l , is the maximum of the spare capacity required in all failure scenarios . thus s , is given determined using the equation : s l = max f ∈ ℒ - { l }  v l f . note that the transpose of said column vector v l is equivalent to the l - th row vector in spare provision matrix c , hence each fmt table stores and calculates one row vector in spare provision matrix c and all the fmt tables of all links stores all row vectors of spare provision matrix c . referring again to fig3 the fmt illustrated corresponds to link l of the network in fig1 . for exemplary purposes , it is assumed that there are four flows ( flows no . 3 , 4 , 6 , and 7 ) in the network , having working paths a - e - d , a - e , b - c - d , and b - e respectively , and backup paths a - b - c - d , a - b - e , b - a - e - d , and b - a - e , respectively . in the current embodiment , it is assumed that all the spare capacity of the backup paths for traffic demand r has been reserved and the related fmt tables are up - to - date . flows 3 , 4 , 6 , and 7 have their backup paths passing through link 1 . the working path of flow 3 includes link 2 and link 7 . the failure of either link 2 or link 7 calls for the spare capacity flow 3 reserved on link 1 . therefore , the entries in the column representing flow 3 and corresponding to links 2 and 7 are assigned the value “ 1 ”. the links 3 - 6 in the column representing flow 3 are assigned the value “ 0 ”. the values for flows 4 , 6 , and 7 are assigned in the same manner . it should be noted that the values assigned for each flow in set f l corresponding to each link f creates a matrix ma . the failure of link 2 in the current embodiment requires the spare capacity of m 3 + m 4 on link 1 , which is the summation of spare bandwidth of all affected flows ( here , flows 3 and 4 ). the spare capacity values required by each link are elements in the vector v l . the final spare capacity reserved on link 1 is s l , which selects the maximum value in v l . moreover , given v l and the working path of a new traffic flow r , the incremental spare capacity on flow link l can be calculated . in an embodiment of the present invention , the column for flow r is appended to m l to create a new failure impact matrix m l ′. likewise , a new v l ′ and s l ′ are determined . then incremental spare capacity , i l r , is determined using the equation i l r = s l ′− s l . the value i l r represents the potential spare capacity increment if the traffic flow r uses link l in its backup path . the value i l r is then used in a successive survivable routing scheme (“ ssr ”) to chose a backup path for flow r which further optimizes the spare capacity allocation for the network ( i . e ., reduces the total spare capacity required by the network ). it should be noted that the incremental spare capacity found using the equation i l r = s l ′− s l guarantees that the amount of total spare capacity approximated by ssr will decrease or stay the same . in other words , the total spare capacity result found using ssr will approach the optimal total spare capacity required by the network . as previously mentioned , ssr approximates the optimal spare capacity allocation (“ sca ”) required by a network . ssr routes link - disjoint backup paths for individual traffic flows , one at a time . a backup path is determined for each individual traffic flow according to the current network state , as long as the backup path is not carrying any traffic load . as such , ssr reduces the amount of network redundancy needed through the use of iterative computation . ssr achieves increased computational speed , distributive implementation , adaptability to traffic fluctuations , and lower redundancy requirements over the entire network . in an embodiment of the present invention , a link cost for a backup path corresponding to traffic flow r is calculated from the current network states . the link cost is the incremental spare capacity found using the equation i l r = s l ′− s l . a backup path for flow r is then determined using the link cost in conjunction with a shortest backup path routing scheme . the backup path is stored in a manner such that the remainder of the network is notified of the backup path for flow r . for example , ssr updates the fmt tables of all the links within the selected traffic flows backup path . a new total spare capacity allocation can then be calculated . another traffic flow is then selected and the process repeated . for each traffic flow r , each backup path found using ssr guarantees that the total spare capacity found will be lower than ( or at least the same as ) the total spare capacity before ssr was implemented . the process is successively repeated until the stable spare capacity allocation required by the network is determined . in one embodiment , ssr is used to approximate the optimal sca for a network modeled by an integer programming (“ ip ”) model . [ 0085 ] fig4 illustrates operational process 400 in which ssr , according to an embodiment of the present invention , is implemented . operational process 400 uses ssr to approximate the optimal total spare capacity for a network . operational process 400 calculates a link cost ( c l ) for a traffic flow r from the network states , uses the link cost to determine a backup path for flow r , and notifies the network of the backup path . operational process 400 then continues for other traffic flows within the network until the optimal spare capacity allocation for the network is determined . operational process 400 is initiated by operation 401 . in the current embodiment , operation 401 is programmed to initiate operational process 400 after detecting a change in the network state , such as the occurrence of a network component failure . alternatively , operation 401 can be programmed to continuously and automatically run within a network by accepting control from operation 405 . likewise , operation 401 can be manually triggered by a user , such as a network designer , administrator , etc .. after operational process 400 is initiated , operational control is then surrendered to operation 402 . operation 402 selects a traffic flow . in the current embodiment , the traffic flow is selected randomly from the set of traffic flows . alternatively , operation 402 can select the traffic flow using some established criteria ( such as selecting a traffic flow that was affected by a change in the network and selecting a traffic flow that was added to the network , among others ). operational control is then surrendered to operation 403 . operation 403 assumes control after the current backup path is retrieved . operation 403 determines a link cost for the selected traffic flow . in the current embodiment , operation 403 sets the updated link cost equal to the incremental spare capacity value , i l r = s l ′− s l , as discussed above . operation 404 assumes control after the link cost is determined for the selected traffic flow . operation 404 selects a backup path for the selected traffic flow . in the current embodiment , operation 404 uses the link cost with a shortest path algorithm and the current network state to determine the backup path for the selected traffic flow . the link cost allows a shortest path algorithm to find a backup path that tries to share the current available spare capacity on the network . in this manner , the total incremental spare capacity for the backup path of the selected node pair is minimized . likewise , as the ssr scheme is repeated for all traffic flows in the network , the optimal total spare capacity allocation is approximated . it should be clear to one skilled in the art that any shortest path algorithm may be used to determine the backup path based on this link cost for the selected traffic flow while remaining within the scope of the present invention . the backup path will have a total link cost that is less than or equal to the total link cost of the current backup path . in the current embodiment , operation 404 minimizes the incremental spare capacity for each backup path . minimization of the incremental spare capacity is a necessary condition for a optimal multi - commodity - flow (“ mcf ”) solution , because changing any single backup path from the optimal spare capacity allocation solution would only increase the total spare capacity , or equivalently its incremental spare capacity . from this perspective , the incremental spare capacity is used as the link cost of the backup path for each traffic flow . in so doing , distributive backup path routing participates actively in sca in approximating the optimum . it should be clear to one skilled in the art , however , that other methods may be used to minimize the total link cost of the selected backup path while remaining within the scope of the present invention . operation 405 then assumes control from operation 404 . operation 405 notifies the network that a backup path has been determined for the selected traffic flow . in the current embodiment , operation 405 notifies the network by updating the fmt stored in each node that the backup path uses . it should be clear to one skilled in the art , however , that other notification methods can be employed . determination operation 406 assumes control after the network has been notified by operation 405 . determination operation 406 ascertains whether the spare capacity allocation has stabilized . if the spare capacity allocation has stabilized , operational control branches yes and operation 407 terminates operational process 400 . if the spare capacity allocation has not stabilized , operational control branches no and operation 402 assumes operational control and selects another traffic flow . in one embodiment , operation 406 compares the total spare capacity allocation calculated from the last iteration of operational process 400 to a spare capacity allocation calculated prior to the last iteration . the difference between these two values are compared the a threshold value set by the network designer . if the last iteration does not improve the networks total spare capacity requirement , operational control branches yes , whereas if an improvement occurs , operational control branches no . alternatively , determination operation 406 can determine whether the last given number of iterations have improved the total spare capacity allocation . thus , if the iterations have improved the network &# 39 ; s spare capacity allocation , then operational control branches yes , else operational control branches no . it should be appreciated by one skilled in the art that many other methods for determining whether a stable spare capacity approximation has been reached can be used while remaining within the scope of the present invention . it should be noted that ssr can be implemented in an link state routing protocol ( such as open shortest path first protocol ). each directed link maintains per - flow information in fmt . the aggregated information in vector vi is advertised periodically . each node collects all v l information , forms a spare provision matrix c , and routes backup paths for all the traffic flows originating from it . ssr broadcasts state information at a complexity of o ( l 2 ). hence , it is scalable with the increasing flow numbers in a network . the successive survivability routing scheme can be implemented within each node in a distributed manner , within a single processor in a centralized manner , or with a combination of the each node and a single processor . in one embodiment , the successive survivability routing scheme ( including updating the fault management table ) is implemented within each node in a distributed manner . a node is a computer , mainframe , terminal , switch , router , and relay among others . in the current embodiment , each node possesses a processor , a memory , and an input / output device , among others . [ 0096 ] fig5 illustrates a system 500 used in operation with a network to create a spare provision matrix and implement the successive survivable routing scheme in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . system 500 is comprised of a processor 501 , a data storage device 502 , an input buffer 503 , an output buffer 504 , a memory 505 having a database 506 and routing table 507 therein , an input device 508 , an output device 509 , and input port 510 and an output port 511 . the system 500 can be implemented in any personal computer , mainframe , calculator , switch , router , and relay among others . the processor 501 is any device capable of accepting input information , executing an instruction or series of instructions ( for example instructions encoded into a computer program , etc . ), and providing output information , among others . the data storage device 502 is any optical disc drive , magnetic disc drive and magnetic tape drive among others . the input buffer 503 , output buffer 504 , and memory 505 is any device capable of storing information such as random - access - memory ( ram ), read - only - memory ( rom ), dynamic - random - access - memory ( dram ), and flash memory among others . the database 506 contains information relating to the nodes , link , traffic flows , and network state , among others . the routing table 507 contains information relating to the paths used by traffic flows , the network state , and the network topology , among others . the input device 508 and output device 509 is any keyboard , sensor , scanner , touch pad , printer , display , terminal , modem , and wire carrier , among others . the input port 510 and the output port 511 can be any type of connection capable of receiving or outputting information as is known in the art . although one embodiment of the system is shown , it should be clear to one skilled in the art that other embodiments are possible . for example , the input device and output device can be combined into one device , the database and routing table can be combined into one data structure , and the input and output buffers can by combined into one buffer , among others . the above - described embodiments of the invention are intended to be illustrative only . numerous alternative embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the following claims .