System, device, and method for managing communication services in an optical communication system

A device comprising:

• a user application requiring communication services from an optical communication network;
• and
• an optical service agent for obtaining optical communication services from the optical communication network via a user-to-network interface (UNI) and managing said optical communication services for the user application.

A device for use in optical communication network, the device comprising:

• a controller for providing optical communication services;
• and
• an optical service agent for obtaining optical communication services from the controller and managing said optical communication services for a network user.

A system comprising:

• an optical communication network;
• and
• a first network user coupled to the optical communication network, wherein the first network user comprises an optical service agent for obtaining optical communication services from the optical communication network via a user-to-network interface (UNI) and for managing the optical communication services for the first network user.

A method for automatically discovering and authenticating peer users in an optical communication system, the optical communication system comprising an optical communication network including a plurality of edge nodes through which the peer users access the optical communication network and an optical service server (OSS) for coordinating various communication services provided by the optical communication network, the method comprising:

• registering peer users with the OSS;
• and
• distributing peer information to the peer users by the OSS.