Patent ID: 8923698

Claim:
A method performed by a network device, the method comprising: determining, by the network device, that an available spectrum, associated with an optically switched light path, has been allocated for one or more superchannels; calculating, by the network device, a leftover spectrum associated with the allocated one or more superchannels based on the available spectrum and based on a bandwidth used by the allocated one or more superchannels; selecting, by the network device, a use for the leftover spectrum; selecting, by the network device, one or more devices to configure based on the selected use, wherein the selected one or more devices include: a first leftover spectrum device, associated with a first reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer associated with a first end of the optically switched light path, and configured to provide data for the leftover spectrum via a channel within the leftover spectrum, and a second leftover spectrum device, associated with a second reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer associated with a second end of the optically switched light path, and configured to receive the data via the channel within the leftover spectrum; configuring, by the network device, the selected one or more devices to use the leftover spectrum, wherein the configuring includes: configuring an add module of the first reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer to add the channel within the leftover spectrum to the optically switched light path, and configuring a wavelength selectable switch of the first reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer to add the channel within the leftover spectrum onto the leftover spectrum of the optically switched light path; and sending, by the network device, the data via the channel within the leftover spectrum using the configured one or more devices.