Patent ID: 8312275

Claim:
A method comprising: generating, via a first optical network device of an optical network, a notification message indicating that the first optical network device requires authentication to access the optical network; transmitting, via the first optical network device, the notification message to a second optical network device in the optical network; receiving, via the first optical network device, a first authentication message from the second optical network device in response to the notification message, wherein the first authentication message comprises first message data and a first authentication code generated by the second optical network device based on the first message data and a first key; generating, via the first optical network device, a second authentication message comprising second message data and a second authentication code generated based on the second message data and a second key; transmitting, via the first optical network device, the second authentication message to the second optical network device; and receiving, via the first optical network device, an authentication complete message from the second optical network device indicating that the first optical network device has been authenticated based on the second authentication message and is able to access the optical network.