Apparatus and method for control messaging in an optical network

The invention is found in a system comprising switches and cross-connects for optical networks where the shelves and ports of the various units are connected to a central cross-connect system. These connections are assigned unique fibers on the basis of a single color per fiber, which is directly connected to a particular incoming or outgoing color on a customer or network fiber. The connections are usually provided as a "transparent' facility, and the optical bandwidth is in some cases fully used by the data and protocols being carried on a fiber. These facts mean that it is impractical to add any further data to that channel for use in verification of a connection. A separate path for the transmission of provisioning data to an Operation, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning subsystem is included within the prefabricated cables used to interconnect the various system modules,. This is referred to as the provisioning data path. When a prefabricated cable is placed in the system during the provisioning process, the physical location of both ends of the cable is detected automatically and the information transmitted to the OAM&P subsystem over the provisioning data path to be validated and recorded as necessary. Thus, errors can quickly be identified, and corrections made. Later the same path may be used to transmit data regarding the logical provisioning of the connection, further ensuring the correctness of both the physical and logical connections.