In an embodiment, a system routes a new data stream from a source to a destination through a plurality of forwarding devices interconnected with links. The system includes a control device that receives a request to create a path through the plurality of interconnected forwarding devices for a new data stream and determines a type of the new data stream. A data flow database stores historical usage characteristics of data streams having the determined type. A path computation module determines, based on the historical usage characteristics of data streams having the determined type, the requested path through plurality of interconnected forwarding devices from the source to the destination.