Flexible ethernet enhanced forward error correction

An apparatus for Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) Forward Error Correction (FEC), the apparatus comprising:

• circuitry adapted to map a first set of calendar slots comprising Ethernet payload clients to a FlexE Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) structure comprising a plurality of calendar slots which subdivide a FlexE interface;
• circuitry adapted to map a second set of calendar slots comprising FEC data to the FlexE TDM structure, wherein the first set of calendar slots and the second set of calendar slots fill the FlexE TDM structure, wherein the first set of calendar slots are N slots and the second set of calendar slots are M slots, N and M are integers, and N>M;
• and
• circuitry adapted to transmit the FlexE TDM structure with both sets of calendar slots transmitting the FlexE TDM structure with both sets of calendar slots without requiring another protocol to transport the Ethernet payload clients.

A device comprising a switch or framer/mapper using Flexible Ethernet (FlexE), the device comprising:

• an interface to a FlexE client module adapted to transmit and receive a FlexE Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) structure;
• and
• mapping circuitry communicatively coupled to the interface and adapted to
• map a first set of calendar slots comprising Ethernet payload clients to a FlexE Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) structure comprising a plurality of calendar slots which subdivide a FlexE interface,
• map a second set of calendar slots comprising Forward Error Correction (FEC) data to the FlexE TDM structure, wherein the first set of calendar slots and the second set of calendar slots fill the FlexE TDM structure, wherein the first set of calendar slots are N slots and the second set of calendar slots are M slots, N and M are integers, and N>M;
• and
• transmit the FlexE TDM structure with both sets of calendar slots transmitting the FlexE TDM structure with both sets of calendar slots without requiring another protocol to transport the Ethernet payload clients.