Patent ID: 7646981

Claim:
A WDM optical system comprising: first and second WDM's; an optical link for transmit and receive signals for each WDM; each WDM including circuitry including a multiplexer and a demultiplexer; each WDM including a plurality of separate optical to electrical converters connecting to a backplane at an electrical interface including a card edge connector, each optical to electrical converter removably mated with the circuitry and configured to transmit and receive common format signals and operate at a separate wavelength, the common format signals having the same format for each of the plurality of separate optical to electrical converters, each electrical interface including an identification feature configured to allow identification of an optical to electrical converter operable at a desired wavelength; each WDM including a plurality of separate electrical to electrical converters, each directly and removably mated with one of the optical to electrical converters at a card edge connector to receive power and to send and receive common format signals, each electrical to electrical converter including input and output signal locations and configured to provide conversion between native protocol media signals and the common format signals; a CPU card connected to the backplane of the first WDM at a card edge connector, the CPU card configured to: send command and control signals to each optical to electrical converter and each electrical to electrical converter in the first WDM; and communicate with the second WDM.