Patent ID: 8401389

Claim:
A method for dispersion compensation of an optical signal, comprising: receiving an optical signal comprising a plurality of channels at a first node of an optical network, wherein the plurality of channels comprise a first set of one or more channels and a second set of one or more channels that are each configured to be received using one or more coherent digital receivers at a second node of the optical network, each coherent digital receiver providing electronic dispersion compensation for the received channel at the second node; forwarding the first set of channels from the first node to the second node without performing dispersion compensation on the first set of channels at the first node; compensating for optical dispersion in the second set of channels at the first node and forwarding the second set of channels from the first node to the second node; and providing dispersion compensation for the second set of channels by the associated coherent digital receivers at the second node in addition to the optical compensation provided at the first node.