Patent ID: 7792044

Claim:
A method for managing a service across an optical network over a dedicated circuit between first and second service termination points, the method comprising: generating a service performance report message at each of the service termination points, each service performance report message having service-specific information related to a performance of the service as determined by the service termination point generating that service performance report message, and each service performance report message identifying the service to which the service-specific information in that service performance report message pertains; transmitting, by each service termination point, the service performance report message generated by that service termination point across the optical network over the dedicated circuit to the other service termination point through a service management channel of an optical transport facility; and accessing either of the first and second service termination points to evaluate an end-to-end performance of the service based on a comparison of the service performance report message generated by the first service termination point with the service performance report message generated by the second service termination point.