Patent ID: 7035219

Claim:
A communications apparatus comprising: an optical interface having a plurality of optical links; an Ethernet interface comprising a plurality of Ethernet ports, a plurality of synchronous transport signal (STS) links, and a control module operable to receive a provisioning message identifying a selected one of the Ethernet ports and, responsive to the provisioning message, to select one of the STS links and to couple the selected Ethernet port and the selected STS link; and a cross-connect module coupled to the Ethernet interface and to the optical interface, the cross-connect module operable to receive a cross-connect message identifying the selected Ethernet port and a selected one of the optical links and, responsive to the cross-connect message, to determine the selected STS link based on the selected Ethernet port identified by the cross-connect message and to couple the selected STS link and the selected optical link, wherein the provisioning message and the cross-connect message result in a transport path, across a synchronous optical network, that links a first Ethernet network coupled to the selected Ethernet port and a second Ethernet network coupled to the synchronous optical network using an Ethernet port of a second communications apparatus.