System and method of determining end point candidates for an optical channel in a data network

A method of determining end points for an optical channel in an optical network to off-load traffic from a target optical link is provided. The method includes the steps of identifying ingress network nodes sourcing traffic through the target optical link, and determining an average ingress bandwidth sourced by the ingress network nodes. Thereafter, the method includes the steps of identifying egress network nodes sinking traffic from the target optical link, and determining an average egress bandwidth sunk by the egress network nodes. The optical channel start point candidates are identified to include ingress network nodes sourcing more traffic than the average ingress bandwidth, and the optical channel end point candidates are identified to include egress network nodes sinking more traffic than the average egress bandwidth.