Patent ID: 8031589

Claim:
A core service network comprising, at least one fiber optic dual overlay ring, wherein each of the at least one fiber optic dual overlay ring comprises, a plurality of complete and distinct physical paths between an Internet service provider (“ISP”) and a subscriber party; wherein, the at least one fiber optic dual overlay ring supports synchronous optical network (“SONET”) services, wavelength services, and Ethernet services between the ISP and the subscriber party over fiber optic cables; a first of the plurality of complete and distinct physical paths comprises a plurality of master switches not used by a second of the plurality of complete and distinct physical paths; the second of the plurality of complete and distinct physical paths comprises a plurality of standby switches not used by the first of the plurality of complete and distinct physical paths; the first of the plurality of complete physical paths is allocated as a primary virtual line; the second of the plurality of complete physical paths is allocated as a secondary virtual line; and at least one of the plurality of master switches is configured to transition to standby state in the event of a network or core failure, whereby the transitioning master switch restarts auto-negotiation on a set of physical ports when transitioning.