Method and system for a secure bi-directional line switched ring

1. A method, comprising:

implementing, on an optical network, one or more indicators to specify traffic ordering associated with an optical networking protocol;

ordering traffic, on an optical network, according to the one or more indicators;

wherein the ordering comprises sending data on a first set of non-contiguous timeslots;

sending data over a second set of non-contiguous timeslots in response to a protection event in a portion of the optical network associated with the first set of non-contiguous timeslots;

sending pseudo random data on the first set of non-contiguous time slots in response to the protection event; and

configuring receiving nodes to ignore the pseudo random data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more indicators are implemented in a synchronous optical networking bi-directional line switched ring based network utilizing unused overhead bits.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the traffic ordering comprises:

configuring a first set of multiplexed time slots to transmit data; and

configuring a second set of multiplexed time slots as reserved time slots.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the first set of multiplexed time slots comprise one or more synchronous transport signal level 1 channels to transmit data around a synchronous optical networking ring; and

the second set of multiplexed time slots comprise one or more synchronous transport signal level 1 channels that are reserved to transmit data around the synchronous optical networking ring in response to a protection switch.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the traffic ordering is fixed.

6. The method of claim 3 where the traffic ordering varies.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

implementing one or more encryption indicators to specify encryption associated with payload data; and

encrypting the payload data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the encryption varies in response to a protection switch.

9. A system comprising:

a security protocol module that implements one or more security protocols for managing traffic ordering in an optical network;

wherein the one or more security protocols are implemented within an optical networking protocol and the traffic ordering is altered from a contiguous ordering scheme associated with the optical networking protocol to a scheme in which data is transmitted on a first set of non-contiguous timeslots;

the security protocol module being further configured to:

send data over a second set of non-contiguous timeslots in response to a protection event in a portion of the optical network associated with the first set of non-contiguous timeslots;

send pseudo random data on the first set of non-contiguous time slots in response to a protection event; and

configure receiving nodes to ignore the pseudo random data.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the security module implements the one or more security protocols in a synchronous optical networking bi-directional line switched ring based network utilizing unused overhead bits.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the traffic ordering configures synchronous transport signal level 1 channels in a first and a second direction around a synchronous optical networking ring based on the one or more security protocols.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the traffic ordering is fixed.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the traffic ordering varies.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the security module encrypts payload data.

15. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:

sending pseudo random data through the portion of the network associated with a protection switch; and

configuring one or more receiving nodes to ignore the pseudo random data.