This document suggests using all-optical switching for very fast protection of high data-rate wavelength services at equals or shorter then Sonet/SDH 50msec protection speed. The fast protection mechanisms suggested are done at the optical layer.

Achieving high access network availability for optical services through equipment protection systems

A proposal for the implementations of a unique all-optical switches which automatically switchover to a default position under power outage conditions, to solve real problems in optical networks.

As networks carry ever-increasing bandwidth and where transferred data is “mission critical”, the degree of network resilience is a major concern. A problem arises when a power failure results in the network being divided into two separate parts.

This white paper discusses various end-to-end optical channel/path protection switching solutions aimed to increase network availability for high-rate optical services.