An Optical Transport Network (OTN) uses optical fiber links to connect network elements and provide transport, multiplexing, routing, management and protection of client signals. OTN applies these functions from SDH/SONET to DWDM networks, and offers stronger error correction, more monitoring levels and transparent transport of client signals compared to SDH/SONET. This document describes OTN architecture, interfaces and standards, the optical transport hierarchy of multiplexing ODUk, OPUk and OTUk signals, and the containment and frame rates of these signals.