Patent ID: 7924706

Claim:
A method comprising: monitoring by an active control unit and a redundant control unit the operational status for each one of a plurality of elements and each one of a plurality of communications links within a flexible cross-connect system, the plurality of elements including: the active control unit, the redundant control unit, a plurality of interface cards, an active cross-connect unit, a redundant cross-connect unit, and a plurality of point to point connections acting as the communications links between the plurality of elements; determining when the operational status of any of the plurality of elements or the communications links between the plurality of elements indicates that the element or the communications link is non-operational; autonomously switching from one active element to an associated redundant element in response to determining that the one active element is non-operational or from one active communications link between the plurality of elements to an associated redundant communications link between the plurality of elements in response to determining that the one active communications link is non-operational; determining when the non-operational active element or the non-operational active communications link between the plurality of elements requires maintenance; reporting that maintenance is required for the non-operational active element or the non-operational active communications link between the plurality of elements in response to determining that the non-operational active element or the non-operational active communications link between the plurality of elements requires maintenance; and blocking communications from being sent to the non-operational active element or over the non-operational active communications link.