Patent ID: 8909052

Claim:
A method for providing simultaneous traffic services at two or more different bit rates along each of a plurality of communication trails comprised in an optical mesh network said two or more different bit rates including a basic bit rate of essentially 10 Gbps and at least one, higher bit rate selected from among essentially 40 Gbps and essentially 100 Gbps, the method comprises: providing a plurality of communication trails, each comprising at least two network nodes interconnected by at least one fiber optic span, wherein one node being a starting point for a communication trail and another node being a termination point for said communication trail, and wherein said communication trail is operative to simultaneously convey traffic at two or more different bit rates; providing in-line dispersion compensation for each of the at least one fiber optic span comprised in said communication trail, thereby obtaining a positive average residual dispersion RDS at every fiber optic span of said communication trail which is no more than a dispersion that is accumulated in up to 3 km of an optical fiber of a type comprised in said fiber optic span; at the node being the starting point of the communication trail, applying negative dispersion pre-compensation, and at the node being the termination point of the communication trail, applying positive dispersion post-compensation, wherein for each of said plurality of communication trails, said pre-compensation, the in-line dispersion compensation at every fiber optic span and the post compensation are all provided irrespective of any specific bit rate of traffic that is currently being conveyed along each of said communication trails, thereby enabling simultaneous provisioning of traffic services at said two or more different bit rates within said optical mesh network.