System and method for sonet equipment fault management

1. A fiber-optic communications interface that is able to operate with a paired fiber-optic communications interface to form a redundant communications termination point, the fiber-optic communications interface comprising:

a paired card interface,

coupled to a cross-cage fiber-optic line that is communicatively coupled to a paired bearer processor located within a different card cage within a communications termination point, and

coupled to a local bearer processor that is adapted to process bearer data comprising bearer data channels communicating with a remote site through a remote site fiber-optic line,

the paired card interface adapted to exchange at least a first subset of status data between the local bearer processor and the paired bearer processor through the cross-cage fiber-optic line; and a local data interface,

coupled to the local bearer processor and a local user data network,

adapted to exchange data between the local bearer processor and the local user data network, the data having been exchanged through the bearer channels and processed by the local bearer processor, and

the local data interface further adapted to exchange at least a second subset of the status data with the paired bearer processor through the local user data network.

2. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 1 , further comprising a fiber-optic line interface that couples the local bearer processor with the remote site fiber-optic line to support communicating the bearer data with the remote site according to the OC-3 protocol, wherein the paired card interface further communicates the bearer data with the different card cage, and wherein the first subset of status data is exchanged through at least one bearer channel of the bearer data being communicated through the paired card interface.

3. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 1 , wherein the local bearer processor is adapted to configure itself, based upon contents of the status data, to operate as one of an active bearer processor state and a standby bearer processor state within the redundant communications termination point.

4. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 3 , wherein the local bearer processor is adapted to, in response to the local bearer processor receiving both of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage through the paired card interface and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage through the local data interface, and in response to the first subset of status data and the second subset of status data both indicating that the paired bearer processor is operating in the active bearer processor state, configure itself to operate in the standby bearer processor state.

5. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 3 , wherein the local bearer processor is adapted to, in response to losing reception of only one of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage through the paired card interface and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage through the local data interface, configure itself to operate in the standby bearer processor state.

6. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 3 , wherein the local bearer processor is adapted to configure itself to operate in the active bearer processor state in response to the local bearer processor

failing to receive both of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage through the paired card interface and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage through the local data interface, wherein the first subset of status data and the second subset of status data both indicate that the paired bearer processor is operating in the active bearer processor state; and

failing to loose reception of only one of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage through the paired card interface and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage through the local data interface.

7. The fiber optic communications interface of claim 6 , wherein the local data interface is configured to:

exchange the data having been exchanged through the bearer channels with an user data router within the local user data network, the local data interface connecting to the user data router through a first data path; and

exchange the at least the second subset of status data through a second data path within the local user data network, the second data path consisting of the first data path and a third data path connecting the paired data processor to the user data router.

8. The fiber-optic communications interface of claim 1 , wherein the local bearer processor:

transmits a local bearer processor status data to the paired bearer processor; and

determines a respective status of each local resource supporting the local bearer processor in the different card cage, wherein each of the respective status is able to be one of healthy and unavailable, and

wherein the local bearer processor status data is based upon the respective status of each local resource.

9. The fiber-optic communications interface of 8 , wherein:

the local bearer processor status data indicates, in response to all of the respective status of each local resource being healthy, that the local bearer processor is capable of operating in an active bearer processor state, and

the local bearer processor status data indicates, in response to one or more of the respective status of each local resource being unavailable, that the local bearer processor is not capable of operating in an active bearer processor state.

10. A method for performing fault management on a fiber-optic communications interface that is able to operate with a paired fiber-optic communications interface to form a redundant communications termination point, the method comprising:

exchanging at least a first subset of status data between a local bearer processor and a paired bearer processor through a cross-cage fiber-optic interface, the paired bearer processor located within a different card cage within the communications termination point;

exchanging at least a second subset of the status data between the local bearer processor and the paired bearer processor through a local user data circuit that is separate from the cross-cage fiber-optic interface; and

in response to receiving both of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage, and in response to the first subset of status data and the second subset of status data both indicating that the paired bearer processor is operating in an active bearer processor state, configuring the local bearer processor to operate in a standby bearer processor state.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

coupling the bearer processor through a remote site fiber-optic line to support communicating bearer data with the remote site according to the OC-3 protocol; and

communicating the bearer data through the paired fiber-optic communications interface,

wherein the first subset of status data is exchanged through at least one bearer channel of the bearer data being communicated with the remote site.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising configuring, in response to losing reception of only one of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage, the local bearer processor to operate in a standby bearer processor state.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising configuring the local bearer processor to operate in an active bearer processor state in response to

the local bearer processor failing to receive both of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage, wherein the first subset of status data and the second subset of status data both indicate that the paired bearer processor is operating in the active bearer processor state, and

failing to loose reception of only one of the first subset of status data received from the different card cage and the second subset of status data received from the different card cage.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

transmitting a local bearer processor status data to the paired bearer processor; and

determining a respective status of each local resource supporting the local bearer processor in the different card cage, wherein each of the respective status is able to be one of healthy and unavailable, and

wherein the local bearer processor status data is based upon the respective status of each local resource.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the local bearer processor status data indicates, in response to all of the respective status of each local resource being healthy, that the local bearer processor is capable of operating in an active bearer processor state, and

the local bearer processor status data indicates, in response to one or more of the respective status of each local resource being unavailable, that the local bearer processor is not capable of operating in an active bearer processor state.

16. A fiber-optic communications interface that is able to operate with a paired fiber-optic communications interface to form a redundant communications termination point for an OC-3 fiber-optic communications circuit, the fiber-optic communications interface comprising:

a fiber-optic line interface that couples a local bearer processor with a remote site fiber-optic line to support communicating bearer data with the remote site according to the OC-3 protocol;

a paired card interface, coupled to a cross-cage fiber-optic line that connects to a paired bearer processor located within a different card cage within a communications termination point, and coupled to the local bearer processor, the local bearer processing being adapted to process bearer data comprising bearer channels communicating with a remote site through the remote site fiber-optic line,

the paired card interface adapted to exchange at least a first subset of status data between the local bearer processor and the paired bearer processor through the cross-cage fiber-optic line; and

a local data interface,

coupled to the local bearer processor and a local user data network,

adapted to exchange data between the local bearer processor and the local user data network, the data having been exchanged through the bearer channels and processed by the local bearer processor, and

the local data interface further adapted to exchange at least a second subset of the status data with the paired bearer processor through the local user data network.