Patent ID: 8000603

Claim:
A WDM optical system comprising: first and second WDM's; an optical link for transmit and receive signals for each WDM; each WDM including circuitry including a multiplexer and a demultiplexer; each WDM including a plurality of separate optical to electrical converters connecting to a backplane at an electrical interface, each optical to electrical converter removably mated with the circuitry wherein each optical to electrical converter includes optical to electrical conversion circuitry for converting between common format electrical signals and optical signals, the common format electrical signals having the same format for each of the plurality of separate optical to electrical cards; each WDM including a plurality of separate electrical to electrical converters, each electrical to electrical converter directly mated with one of the optical to electrical converters, each electrical to electrical converter including input and output signal locations and configured to provide conversion between native protocol media signals and the common format electrical signals; a CPU card connected to the backplane of the first WDM at a card edge connector, the CPU card configured to: send command and control signals to each optical to electrical converter and each electrical to electrical converter in the first WDM; and communicate with the second WDM.