Patent ID: 7974533

Claim:
An optical network, comprising: a first optical network section operatively coupled to a carrier facility configured to transmit traffic onto channels in the first optical network section; a second optical network section operatively coupled to the first optical network section at a first node, the second optical network section operatively coupled to a first customer location at a second node and a second customer location at a third node; and a third optical network section operatively coupled to the first optical network section at a fourth node, wherein the first node comprises a first banded optical filter for passing traffic having a first wavelength range from the first optical network section to the second optical network section, wherein the fourth node comprises a second banded optical filter for passing traffic having a second wavelength range from the first optical network section to the third optical network section, wherein the second node comprises a first tunable filter for passing traffic on a first channel in the first wavelength range from the second optical network section to the first customer location, and wherein the third node comprises a second tunable filter for passing traffic on a second channel in the first wavelength range from the second optical network section to the second customer location.