System and apparatus for dropping and adding optical data streams in an optical communication network

An optical add/drop multiplexing system comprising:

• a Micro Electro Mechanical System (“MEMS”) based photonic switching fabric operably coupled to drop but not add optical data streams, wherein the photonic switching fabric comprises single-sided mirrors configurable to drop but not add optical data streams;
• and
• a non-MEMS based combiner operably coupled to combine passed optical data streams from the photonic switching fabric together with added optical data streams.

Apparatus comprising:

• a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) capable of dropping but not adding optical data streams, the MEMS comprising single-sided mirrors configurable to drop but not add optical data streams and a non-MEMS based combiner operably coupled to combine passed optical data streams from the MEMs together with added optical data streams which are not from the MEMS, wherein the combiner comprises filter logic for blocking an out-of-band optical data stream.

An optical add/drop multiplexing apparatus comprising:

• a Micro Electro Mechanical System (“MEMS”) based photonic switching fabric operably coupled to drop but not add optical data streams, wherein the photonic switching fabric comprises single-sided mirrors configurable to drop but not add optical data streams;
• and
• a non-MEMS based combiner operably coupled to combine passed optical data streams from the photonic switching fabric together with added optical data streams which are not from the photonic switching fabric wherein the combiner comprises filter logic for blocking an out-of-band optical data stream.

An optical add/drop multiplexing system comprising:

• a Micro Electro Mechanical System (“MEMS”) based photonic switching fabric operably coupled to drop but not add optical data streams, wherein the photonic switching fabric comprises single-sided mirrors configurable to drop but not add optical data streams;
• and
• a non-MEMS based combiner operably coupled to combine passed optical data streams from the photonic switching fabric together with added optical data streams which are not from the photonic switching fabric wherein the combiner comprises filter logic for blocking an out-of-band optical data stream.

Apparatus comprising:

• a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) capable of dropping but not adding optical data streams, the MEMS comprising single-sided mirrors configurable to drop but not add optical data streams and a non-MEMS based passive coupler operably coupled to combine passed optical data streams from the MEMs together with added optical data streams which are not from the MEMS, wherein the passive coupler comprises filter logic for blocking an out-of-band optical data stream.