Patent ID: 7633933

Claim:
A hierarchical layer one and layer two cross-connect in a transport and aggregation platform, comprising a layer one line card comprising a plurality of ports and a layer one cross-connect configured to cross-connect a plurality of time slots; a layer two line card comprising a plurality of ports and a layer two cross-connect configured to cross-connect at least a portion of one or more of the plurality of time slots to one of another of the plurality of time slots and to one of the plurality of ports on the layer two line card; a connection between the layer one line card and the layer two line card; and, a second layer two line card comprising a second plurality of ports and a second layer two cross-connect configured to cross-connect at least a portion of one or more of the plurality of time slots to one of another of the plurality of time slots, to one of the second plurality of ports on the second layer two line card, and to one of the plurality of ports on the layer two line card; wherein the second layer two line card connects to the layer one line card and the layer two line card through the connection.