Patent ID: 8155147

Claim:
A method for employing a Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) to transport data across an optical network between two different local area optical networks, the method comprising: forming, at a near edge node on a first local area optical network a GFP control plane message that includes a mode field that indicates a near mode of a plurality of modes for processing optical networking frames; sending the GFP control plane message to a far edge node on a second local area optical network different from the first local area optical network; and wherein the GFP control plane message, upon receipt by the far edge node, causes the far edge node to: determine whether a far mode used by the far edge node matches the near mode based on the mode field in the GFP control plane message, and if it is determined that the near mode does not match the far mode, then causing an alert that indicates a mismatch in processing between the near edge node and the far edge node.