Patent ID: 7394981

Claim:
A telecommunications system having service provider equipment delivering an optical service, via an optical medium, to a demarcation point to which customer line equipment is connected, a service provider being responsible for the service provider equipment and a optical medium as to the demarcation point, the system comprising: an operational support system; and a service provider system comprising: an optical medium between the service provider equipment and the demarcation point, the service provider equipment providing service signals of one or more optical wavelengths on the optical medium to the demarcation point; a transmitter on the service provider side of the demarcation point that provides a management signal on a wavelength separate from the service wavelengths, the management signal formatted with an optical line protocol; an optical multiplexer on the service provider side of the demarcation point which multiplexes the management signal onto the optical medium; an optical demultiplexer on the service provider side of the demarcation point which demultiplexes the management signal after the management signal has passed through the optical medium; and electronics on the service provider side of the demarcation point that process the demultiplexed management signal and provide management information to the operational support system, in a format native to the operational support system, the management information indicating a state of the optical medium independent of a state of the customer line equipment.