lem is to have route optimization applications that keep track of the status of all the routes. Based on real-time values of the status of all possible routes these optimization applications take decisions to route traffic in an optimal manner. Use of route optimization algorithms and applications implementing the algorithms traffic congestion can be avoided. Another important use is to avoid resending of information that is caused by faulty nodes and improper route selection. 5. Service provision and activation: Provisioning and activating the service is a key activity of the service provider for order fulfillment. Dedicated service provisioning and activation applications are used by the service provider to Fundamentals of EMS, NMS and OSS/BSS enable flow through provisioning. Once the order is captured in the order management system, information on the services requested by the customer is passed to the service provisioning module. The provisioning module identi- fies the resources that can be provisioned by interacting with inventory man- agement. The allocated resources are then provisioned, which also includes network provisioning for setting up the infrastructure to support the services. After network level provisioning is successfully completed, the service provi- sioning performs the required configuration to set up the parameters to be used when activating the service. Finally the service is activated. A validation module checks if the service activation is successful and the subscribed ser- vice is ready for customer use. The service provisioning module also informs the order management module that the order is successfully completed and triggers the billing subsystem to start billing the customer. 6. Service configuration management: Service configuration management involves configuring the resource components of a generic service built for a customer or a class of customers. After basic installation of components for operating a service, the specific parameters to be used while operating the service 