An anonymous reader writes: Modern networks demand more than simple redundancy; they demand true resilience engineered into every layer. Microsoft’s zero-trust optical business continuity and disaster recovery (optical BCDR) architecture embodies this shift: It moves beyond traditional backup paths and instead combines two fully independent optical systems designed to sustain uninterrupted services even during systemic failures.
Disruptions in complex optical networks result not just from hardware faults but from human error, misconfigurations, automation glitches, or unexpected maintenance impacts, any of which can disable even the most robust transport infrastructure. To address this issue, Microsoft’s tiered zerotrust optical architecture couples two completely independent optical domains: a flexible ROADM-based transport network and an optical BCDR layer, tied together only at the routed Ethernet edge
Built on proven Ciena platforms such as the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), and the Waveserver® family equipped with fixed-grid channel multiplexer/demultiplexer (CMD) modules, this approach ensures operational continuity during planned or unplanned outages. By logically bonding these domains at the Ethernet layer, it guarantees sea
With this blueprint, service providers, cloud operators, and enterprise architects can move beyond simple redundancy and design networks that guarantee continuity, shaping a new benchmark for resilient optical transport
