Methods and apparatus for implementing optical integrated routing with traffic protection

An apparatus, comprising:

• a switch device configured to be operatively coupled to a network having a plurality of links, the switch device configured to receive at a first time a message having a plurality of physical coding sublayer (PCS) lanes, the message including an error notification within a first subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes and not within a second subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes mutually exclusive from the first subset of PCS lanes, the error notification being associated with signal degradation of a link from the plurality of links, the switch device configured to send a first signal in response to receiving the message at the first time,
• the switch device configured to receive at a second time a message without the error notification, the switch device configured to send a second signal in response to receiving the message at the second time,
• the message including the error notification associated with signal degradation is associated with a first threshold, the message without the error notification is associated with a second threshold lower than the first threshold.

An apparatus, comprising:

• an optical switch device configured to be operatively coupled to a switch device and a network having a plurality of links, the optical switch device configured to receive an indication of signal degradation associated with a link from the plurality of links, the optical switch device configured to send at a first time a message having a plurality of physical coding sublayer (PCS) lanes in response to the indication of signal degradation, the message including an error notification within a first subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes and not within a second subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes mutually exclusive from the first subset of PCS lanes, the error notification being associated with the signal degradation,
• the optical switch device configured to receive an indication of no signal degradation associated with the link, the optical switch device configured to send at a second time a message without the error notification in response to the indication of no signal degradation.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a switch device configured to be operatively coupled to a network having a plurality of links, the switch device configured to receive, from an optical switch device at a first time, a message having an error notification in response to signal degradation of a first link from the plurality of links, the switch device configured to send a first signal in response to receiving the message at the first time, the switch device configured to receive at a second time a message having an error notification in response to signal failure of a second link from the plurality of links, the switch device configured to send a second signal in response to receiving the message at the second time, and the message at the first time is a message having a plurality of physical coding sublayer (PCS) lanes, the error notification associated with signal degradation is within a first subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes and not within a second subset of PCS lanes from the plurality of PCS lanes mutually exclusive from the first subset of PCS lanes.