This paper looks at several aspects of optical layer protection techniques
from an implementation perspective. We discuss the factors that affect the
complexity of optical protection schemes, such as supporting mesh instead o
f ring protection, handling low-priority traffic, and dealing with multiple
types of failures. The paper also looks at how the client layer interacts
with the optical layer with respect to protection, in terms of how client c
onnections are mapped into the optical layer, and how protection schemes in
both layers can work together in efficient ways. Finally, we describe seve
ral interesting optical protection implementations, focusing on the ones th
at are different from conventional SONET-like implementations.