Patent ID: 7706688

Claim:
An optical network for providing communication services to end-users, comprising: a metro ring network (MRN) interconnecting a plurality of network nodes; and, a first passive optical network (PON) optically connected to the MRN at one of the network nodes, comprising a plurality of optical network units (ONU) associated with the end-users and connected to receive one or more wavelength channels from the MRN through a plurality of optical access links; wherein the MRN comprises: a metro hub for aggregating communication signals onto a plurality of wavelength channels and for transmitting said wavelength channels over the MRN, and a first optical add-drop module (OADM) disposed at the one of the network nodes and interfacing the first PON for selectively dropping at least one of the wavelength channels for providing thereof to one or more of the plurality of ONUs, wherein the first OADM is remotely configurable to selectively direct any of the plurality of the wavelength channels to the first PON so as to provide wavelength re-configurability in the optical network.