Patent ID: 8055134

Claim:
A telecommunications network comprising: a plurality of tier 2 nodes; a plurality of tier 1 nodes; wherein each one of the tier 2 nodes is in optical communication with one or more of the tier 1 nodes via a time and wavelength interleaved arrangement and each of the tier 2 nodes includes a tunable transmitter for transmitting wavelength-modulated payloads to tier 1 nodes; and wherein each one of the tier 1 nodes is in optical communication with one or more of the other tier 1 nodes via a wavelength-division-multiplexed arrangement and each of the tier 1 nodes includes a burst-mode receiver which receives transmissions from a tier 2 node at a particular wavelength and a WDM transmitter that re-transmits those transmissions to an appropriate tier 1 node at another particular wavelength associated with that appropriate tier 1 node.