A network operating system NOS for an agile optical network with a plurality of mesh interconnected switching nodes, manages the network using an object-oriented network information model. The model is common to all applications requiring the data stored in the network managed information base. The core model can be expanded for serving specific application areas. The NOS is organized in layers, at the optical module level, connection level and network level. A distributed topology server DTS organizes the physical, logical and topological data defining all network entities as managed objects MO and topology objects TO for constructing a complete network view. The network information model associates a network element NE information model, specified by managed objects MO and a topological information model, specified by topology objects TO. The MOs are abstract specific NE data that define network implementation details and do not include any topological data, while the TOs abstract specific topological data for defining a trail established within the network, and do not include any NE data. The models are associated in a minimal number of points to construct the model of a trial in response to a connection request.