High speed healing ring for optical transport networks

A ring network comprising:

• a plurality of nodes arranged in a ring configuration;
• and
• a plurality of pairs of links, each pair of links together forming a circle of the ring configuration, each node capable of transmitting at least one pair of redundant optical signals having a predetermined wavelength to at least one other node over at least one pair of links,
• wherein each pair of redundant optical signals have the predetermined wavelength different from the wavelengths of all other pairs of redundant optical signals, and said at least one other node receives said at least one pair of optical signals by taking them off the respective links through a physical layer interface.

A method of providing redundancy in a ring network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

• transmitting a first optical signal representing a first data and having a first wavelength from a first node to a second node over a first link;
• and
• transmitting a second optical signal representing the first data and having the first wavelength from the first node to the second node over a second link,
• wherein at least one of said first and second optical signals passes through at least one other node between the first node and the second node.