Optical communication network and protection methods

An optical network comprising:

• a first optical node configured to route a first optical signal at a first working wavelength to a second optical node via a first optical path;
• a third optical node configured to route a second optical signal at said first working wavelength to a fourth optical node via a second optical path;
• said first optical node being configurable to route said first optical signal at a first protection wavelength to said second optical node via a third optical path providing optical communication between said first optical node and said fourth optical node coupled to a fourth optical path providing optical communication between said fourth optical node and said third optical node and further coupled to a fifth optical path providing optical communication between said third optical node and said second optical node;
• and,
• said third optical node being configurable to route said second optical signal at said first protection wavelength to said fourth optical node via said fifth optical path coupled to a sixth optical path providing optical communication between said second optical node and said first optical node, and further coupled to said third optical path.

A method of protecting information transmitted in an optical network comprising:

• providing a plurality of switch nodes interconnected by a plurality of optical transmission paths;
• configuring an origination switch nodes to switch information being transmitted to a destination switch node between a working path and a protection path;
• switching the destination node to receive the information from the appropriate one of the working path and the protection path;
• and,
• provisioning at least a third switch node to allow the information to pass between the origination and destination nodes.