Automated Disaster Recovery
Fabric Using Optical Circuit Switching

Executive Summary

Every hour of unplanned downtime in a mission-critical data center can cost an enterprise between $300,000 and $540,000 in direct losses, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. Traditional disaster recovery architectures automate everything above Layer 2 yet leave the physical optical layer managed manually. A fiber cut, connector degradation, or passive component failure will defeat even the most carefully engineered L3 DR design.

This whitepaper presents a complete framework for building an automated DR fabric using the HUBER+SUHNER POLATIS® Optical Circuit Switch (OCS) at the physical layer, supported by the HUBER+SUHNER LISA™ ribbon splice cassette system (½RU, up to 12× MTP Base-12 or 36× SN/MDC per cassette), IANOS™ high-density fiber management, and the CDR Optical Distribution Frame (ODF) rack cabinet — together forming an end-to-end physical layer ecosystem purpose-built for high-availability deployments.

Uniquely, this document extends beyond hardware to provide working C# (.NET) code examples consuming the POLATIS® RESTCONF API (RFC 8040). The patterns shown are production-ready building blocks for .NET-based data center automation platforms.

1. Problem Statement: The Physical Layer Gap in Disaster Recovery

1.1 The Business Reality of Downtime

Enterprise DR programs define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) — maximum tolerable time to restore service — and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) — maximum acceptable data loss window. Tier 1 financial firms require RTO under 15 minutes and near-zero RPO. Healthcare and government organizations commonly target RTOs of one to four hours. Meeting these targets requires the DR architecture to function at every layer of the OSI stack, including Layer 1.

1.2 The Multi-Site Interconnect Problem

The inter-site fiber interconnect is one of the most fragile elements in the DR chain. Common physical-layer failure modes include:

• Complete fiber cuts from civil works, rodent damage, or accidental excavation
• Gradual connector degradation causing increasing insertion loss over months
• Transceiver failures at either end of the inter-site link
• Partial signal degradation from OSNR, chromatic dispersion, or PMD on long spans
• Deliberate fiber sabotage — an increasing threat documented across Europe and North America

In all of these scenarios, the physical layer failure must be detected and remediated before higher-layer protocols can recover. Without physical-layer automation, this requires an on-site engineer to physically re-patch the fiber — a process that takes 30 minutes to 4 hours in a secure colocation environment, defeating even the most carefully engineered L3 DR program.

1.3 Why L3 Failover Alone Is Insufficient

IP-layer failover mechanisms (BGP, VRRP, MPLS FRR) are complementary to, not a substitute for, physical-layer protection. Three fundamental limitations apply:

• Detection latency: BGP detects failure when a TCP keepalive times out — typically 30–180 seconds after the physical cut. During that window, all traffic is black-holed and IP sessions may expire.
• No physical pre-provisioning: IP failover cannot pre-provision alternate physical paths or dark fiber protection routes before a failure occurs.
• No proactive monitoring: No IP-layer mechanism detects gradual optical degradation. A connector losing 0.1 dB per month over 18 months will not trigger any IP alert until the link fails completely.

The POLATIS® OCS closes all three gaps simultaneously: sub-50 ms APS at the physical layer, dark fiber pre-provisioning at deployment, and continuous per-port OPM monitoring.

2. Optical Circuit Switching Technology

2.1 OOO vs. OEO Switching

Traditional data center switching uses Optical-to-Electrical-to-Optical (OEO) conversion: the signal is converted to electrical, switched, and converted back. OEO switches are protocol-specific and data-rate-dependent. All-Optical (OOO) switching maintains the signal as light from input to output with no electrical conversion. Key advantages for DR:

• Protocol and data-rate agnostic — same switch handles 1G through 800G without modification
• Near-zero signal latency — critical for synchronous replication and active/active topologies
• Dark fiber pre-provisioning — protection paths fully configured before any traffic flows
• Optional Optical Power Meters (OPM) on each port for real-time signal health monitoring
• Optional Variable Optical Attenuation (VOA) for equalizing signals across diverse fiber spans

2.2 POLATIS® DirectLight™ Architecture

The POLATIS® Series 7000 uses DirectLight™ beam-steering technology in non-blocking matrix configurations from 8×8 to 384×384 ports. Unlike MEMS switches sensitive to vibration and orientation, DirectLight™ operates independently of optical power level, wavelength, and direction. The switch contributes only 0.5–1.5 dB insertion loss across the full 384×384 matrix, significantly below competing technologies. This matters critically in inter-site DR links where the fiber span already consumes most of the loss budget.

Key specifications: APS switchover <50 ms · MTBF >250,000 hours · no mechanical components in the optical path · unlimited switching cycles · port configurations 8×8 to 384×384 non-blocking · LC or MTP port configuration.

3. The HUBER+SUHNER Physical Layer Ecosystem

The POLATIS® OCS is the switching engine, but it operates within a complete physical layer ecosystem. Three complementary HUBER+SUHNER product lines — LISA™, IANOS™, and CDR — are essential to delivering the density, manageability, and reliability that DR deployments require. The CDR is the physical ODF rack cabinet that houses the LISA™ splice cassettes. IANOS™ is a separate Top-of-Rack chassis. Together they form the fiber termination and breakout layer for each DR site.

3.1 LISA™ — Ribbon Splice Cassette System (inside CDR Cabinet)

LISA™ is HUBER+SUHNER's ribbon splice cassette system, housed inside the CDR ODF cabinet. Each cassette occupies ½RU and provides a range of front-plate connector configurations, all factory-spliced at installation with no mated connectors on the incoming dark fiber side.

LISA™ ribbon cassette front-plate configurations (source: HUBER+SUHNER LISA™ Cassettes product page):

• 12× LCd UPC or APC — standard duplex LC for single-mode inter-site links
• 18× LCd UPC or APC — higher-density LC when space is critical
• 6× or 12× MTP Base-8 or Base-12 — MTP outputs for trunk cable runs to IANOS™
• 18× MTP Base-8 — maximum MTP density per ½RU
• 36× SN UPC — very small form factor duplex connector
• 36× MDC UPC — push-pull multi-fiber connector for ultra-high density
• Splice through — direct fiber passthrough for point-to-point splice continuity

In a POLATIS® DR deployment, the 12× MTP Base-12 configuration is standard for dark fiber DR links: each LISA™ ribbon cassette ribbon-splices the incoming dark fiber and presents 12 MTP connectors on its front face. These MTP outputs connect via MTP trunk cables to the IANOS™ ToR chassis. The splice is performed once at installation and never disturbed — only the POLATIS® OCS cross-connects are reconfigured during failover.

Performance characteristics relevant to DR deployments:

• Splice loss <0.1 dB per fusion splice — significantly better than mated LC or MTP connector pairs (0.3–0.5 dB each), preserving the loss budget on long inter-site dark fiber spans
• ½RU form factor: a 47U CDR 1500 cabinet can house sufficient LISA™ ribbon cassettes to terminate thousands of inter-site dark fibers in an organised, front-accessible footprint
• OS2 single-mode compatible, covering all standard DR inter-site dark fiber deployments at 1310 nm and 1550 nm
• No mated connectors on the dark fiber entry side: eliminates the connector contamination and degradation that causes gradual optical power loss

3.2 IANOS™ — Ribbon Splice Module and Top-of-Rack Chassis

IANOS™ is HUBER+SUHNER's Top-of-Rack fiber management chassis — a separate 19″ enclosure independent from the CDR cabinet. IANOS™ sits between the CDR cabinet and the POLATIS® OCS, receiving MTP trunk cables from the LISA™ cassettes and breaking them out to individual LC or other connector formats.

IANOS™ ribbon splice modules (source: HUBER+SUHNER IANOS™ Module Types product page, pp. 62–63):

• 24-fiber module, 12× LCD (part IKD-12-LCUD-… / IKD-12-LCAD-…): 24F per module, 144F per 1U, 576F per 4U
• 72-fiber module, 36× VSFF (part IKD-12-SNU6-… / IKD-12-MDU6-…): 72F per module, 432F per 1U, 1728F per 4U — 3× denser
• 72-fiber module, 6× MTP Base-12 (part IKD-06-12CM-…): 72F per module via 6× MTP-12 connectors

Maximum fiber capacity: 24-fiber module delivers 144F/1U (max 5,760F in 40U cabinet); 72-fiber module delivers 432F/1U (max 17,280F in 40U cabinet). For DR deployments with dark fiber inter-site links, the 24-fiber ribbon splice module (12× LCD output) is standard. Once deployed, IANOS™ modules are never re-patched during failover — all path changes are made via RESTCONF PATCH to the POLATIS® OCS.

3.3 CDR — Optical Distribution Frame Cabinet (ODF Rack)

CDR is HUBER+SUHNER's ODF rack cabinet — a 47U, 300 mm deep, front-accessible enclosure that physically houses the LISA™ splice cassettes. IANOS™ is a separate Top-of-Rack chassis independent of the CDR. The CDR 1500 is 2236 mm tall × 328 mm wide, weighs 201 kg, and features a C-shaped aluminium frame for full front access without rear-access requirements.

• 300 mm shallow depth — installed back-to-wall, back-to-back, end-of-row, or side-by-side
• 47U capacity accommodates LISA™ backbone modules in a single structured enclosure
• Two internal mounting frames with integrated center cable management
• Clear demarcation between incoming dark fiber and outgoing MTP trunk connectivity

4. Key Insight: Closing the Layer 1 Automation Gap

The central architectural insight of this whitepaper is that physical-layer DR automation requires three simultaneous capabilities that no single technology previously delivered together:

• Pre-provisioned dark fiber protection paths — both working and protection paths fully configured in the OCS switch fabric before any failure occurs, enabling sub-50 ms activation
• Continuous per-port optical power monitoring (OPM) — detecting signal degradation before complete link failure, enabling proactive maintenance rather than reactive emergency response
• Programmable API control (RESTCONF/RFC 8040) — enabling any standard HTTP client (.NET, Python, Ansible, Terraform) to orchestrate physical-layer DR without proprietary SDKs or CLI dependencies

The POLATIS® OCS with RESTCONF, deployed with LISA™ splice cassettes (CDR/ER), IANOS™ ToR chassis (MDA/HDA), and pre-provisioned dark fiber cross-connects, delivers all three capabilities in a single coherent architecture. This closes the Layer 1 gap that limits every traditional DR program.

5. Physical Layer Constraints in DR Deployments

5.1 Fiber Loss Budget

Every inter-site DR fiber link has a finite optical loss budget. Each component in the signal path contributes to this budget:

5.2 Port Density: IANOS™ Chassis Sizing for DR Deployments

IANOS™ chassis sizing is determined by the number of dark fiber pairs requiring termination at each DR site. Each LISA™ MTP-12 output connects to one IANOS™ module input. For a typical 96-port OCS deployment: 96 OCS ports ÷ 12 fibers per IANOS™ 24F module = 8 modules required. At 12 modules per 1U HD chassis, this fits within 1U of IANOS™ HD. With growth headroom: 1× IANOS™ HD 4U chassis (48 modules, 1,152 fibers) provides substantial expansion capacity.

5.3 Physical Space Requirements: ANSI/TIA-942-C and ANSI/TIA-568-C

The placement of CDR, LISA™, and IANOS™ equipment within a building is governed by ANSI/TIA-942-C (Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers, May 2024) and ANSI/TIA-568-C (Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard). ANSI/TIA-942-C defines five functional spaces within a data center:

The TIA-568-C analogy for enterprise buildings: Entrance Facility (EF) ≈ TIA-942 ER; Equipment Room (ER) ≈ TIA-942 MDA; Telecommunications Room (TR) ≈ TIA-942 HDA; Work Area ≈ TIA-942 EDA.

5.4 CDR / LISA™ and IANOS™ Physical Space Placement

6. Disaster Recovery Deployment Models

In all models below, inter-site dark fiber is splice-terminated in LISA™ cassettes inside CDR ODF cabinets; MTP trunks carry the signal to IANOS™ ToR chassis; LC patch cords connect to the POLATIS® OCS. All controlled via RESTCONF.

6.1 Model A: Hot Standby (1+1 APS)

Both primary and secondary sites are fully provisioned and running simultaneously. The OCS at the secondary site monitors OPM on all working-path input ports continuously. On power alarm, it switches to the pre-provisioned protection path in <50 ms. All 12 service types listed in Section 9.2 are protected independently.

6.2 Model B: Warm Standby (1:N Shared Protection)

One protection path is shared across N working paths. When one working path fails, the single protection path is switched to cover it. More fiber-efficient than 1+1 but with brief additional detection latency. Appropriate for lower-criticality services where the 1:N trade-off is acceptable.

6.3 Model C: Cold Standby (Dark Fiber Pre-Provisioning)

Dark fiber protection paths are pre-provisioned in the OCS switch fabric but carry no active traffic. On activation (manual or automated), the OCS switches to the dark fiber path. Appropriate for RPO-tolerant applications where cost efficiency is prioritised over RTO.

6.4 Model D: Multi-Site Hierarchical

A hub OCS (typically 192×192 or 384×384) at the primary site aggregates working paths from multiple secondary and tertiary sites. This model provides a third path option when simultaneous dual-path failure of working and primary protection is a design concern.

7. Reference Architecture: Dual-Site 1+1 Hot Standby

8. Programmatic Control via POLATIS® RESTCONF API

This section provides C# (.NET) code patterns for the four operations most critical to DR automation. All examples use the POLATIS® RESTCONF interface documented in HUBER+SUHNER document 7001-006-07 (RFC 8040, port 8008, root /api).

8.1 Base HTTP Client Setup

The following C# class encapsulates all RESTCONF communication. In production, retrieve credentials from Azure Key Vault or HashiCorp Vault.

using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.Json;

public class PolatisRestconfClient : IDisposable
{
    private readonly HttpClient _http;
    private readonly string _baseUrl;

    public PolatisRestconfClient(string host,
                                  string user     = "admin",
                                  string password = "root",
                                  int    port     = 8008)
    {
        _baseUrl = $"http://{host}:{port}/api";
        var handler = new HttpClientHandler
        {
            ServerCertificateCustomValidationCallback = (_, _, _, _) => true
        };
        _http = new HttpClient(handler);
        var credentials = Convert.ToBase64String(
            Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{user}:{password}"));
        _http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
            new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", credentials);
        _http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
            new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/yang-data+json"));
    }
    public async Task<string> GetAsync(string resource)
    {
        var r = await _http.GetAsync($"{_baseUrl}/data/{resource}");
        r.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
        return await r.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
    }
    public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> PatchAsync(
        string resource, string json)
    {
        var content = new StringContent(json, Encoding.UTF8,
            "application/yang-data+json");
        return await _http.PatchAsync($"{_baseUrl}/data/{resource}", content);
    }
    public void Dispose() => _http.Dispose();
}

8.2 Reading Optical Power Telemetry (OPM)

public record OpticalPower(int PortId, double PowerDbm, string AlarmStatus);

public async Task<OpticalPower?> GetPortPowerAsync(
    PolatisRestconfClient client, int portId)
{
    try
    {
        var json = await client.GetAsync(
            $"optical-switch:opm-power/port={portId}");
        using var doc = JsonDocument.Parse(json);
        var port = doc.RootElement.GetProperty("optical-switch:port");
        return new OpticalPower(
            PortId:      port.GetProperty("port-id").GetInt32(),
            PowerDbm:    port.GetProperty("opm")
                             .GetProperty("power").GetDouble(),
            AlarmStatus: port.GetProperty("opm")
                             .GetProperty("power-alarm-status")
                             .GetString() ?? "UNKNOWN");
    }
    catch (HttpRequestException) { return null; }
}

8.3 Activating a Protection Path

public async Task<bool> ActivateProtectionPathAsync(
    PolatisRestconfClient client, int ingressPort, int protectionEgress)
{
    string payload = $@"{{
    ""pair"": {{ ""egress"": {protectionEgress} }}
}}";
    var response = await client.PatchAsync(
        $"optical-switch:cross-connects/pair={ingressPort}", payload);
    bool ok = response.StatusCode ==
        System.Net.HttpStatusCode.NoContent; // HTTP 204 = success
    Console.WriteLine(ok
        ? $"[{DateTime.UtcNow:o}] Failover: port {ingressPort} -> {protectionEgress}"
        : $"Failover FAILED: HTTP {(int)response.StatusCode}");
    return ok;
}

8.4 Complete DR Monitor (.NET BackgroundService)

using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;

public class DrMonitorService : BackgroundService
{
    // working ingress port -> protection egress port
    private readonly Dictionary<int, int> _protectionMap = new()
    {
        { 1,  193 },  // Primary inter-site working -> protection
        { 2,  194 },  // Secondary service
        { 3,  195 },  // Tertiary service
    };
    private const double ThresholdDbm   = -30.0;
    private const int    PollIntervalMs = 5_000; // 5 seconds
    private readonly PolatisRestconfClient _secondaryOcs =
        new("10.10.2.10");

    protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            foreach (var (workingPort, protectionPort) in _protectionMap)
            {
                var power = await GetPortPowerAsync(_secondaryOcs, workingPort);
                if (power is null) continue;
                if (power.PowerDbm < ThresholdDbm ||
                    power.AlarmStatus.Contains("ALARM"))
                {
                    await ActivateProtectionPathAsync(
                        _secondaryOcs, workingPort, protectionPort);
                }
            }
            await Task.Delay(PollIntervalMs, stoppingToken);
        }
    }
    public override void Dispose()
    {
        _secondaryOcs.Dispose();
        base.Dispose();
    }
}

8.5 Pre-Provisioning Dark Fiber Protection Paths at Startup

public async Task PreProvisionProtectionPathsAsync(
    PolatisRestconfClient client, Dictionary<int,int> map)
{
    var pairs = map.Select(kv =>
        $@"{{""ingress"":{kv.Key},""egress"":{kv.Value}}}");
    string payload = $@"{{
    ""cross-connects"":{{""pair"":[{string.Join(",",pairs)}]}}
}}";
    var r = await client.PatchAsync("optical-switch:cross-connects", payload);
    Console.WriteLine(
        r.StatusCode == System.Net.HttpStatusCode.NoContent
            ? $"Pre-provisioned {map.Count} dark fiber paths."
            : $"Pre-provisioning failed: HTTP {(int)r.StatusCode}");
}

9. Business Value: RTO, RPO, and TCO

9.1 RTO Comparison

9.2 TCO and ROI Drivers

The following cost drivers are based on published third-party research and industry data. Each figure includes a source reference; readers are encouraged to verify figures against current editions of the cited reports.

10. Return on Investment: Quantitative Framework

This section provides a structured ROI model based on published industry data and anonymised customer deployment metrics. Parameters should be adjusted to match your organisation's risk profile, downtime cost, and DR test frequency.

10.1 Input Parameters

10.2 Annual Cost Avoidance Model

10.3 Multi-Year NPV Model

Using a 5-year analysis horizon with 8% discount rate and conservative $300K/hr downtime cost:

CAPEX estimate: ×2 96×96 POLATIS® OCS units, ×2 IANOS™ HD 4U chassis, ×4 CDR 1500 cabinets (2 per site), LISA™ splice cassettes, MTP trunk cabling, installation and commissioning. Operational expenditure (power, maintenance) is negligible: the OCS is all-optical with no electrical signal processing and MTBF exceeds 250,000 hours.

11. Failure Mode Analysis and Automated Handling

A complete DR fabric must handle not only the expected fiber cut scenario but the full spectrum of physical-layer failure modes.

11.1 Failure Mode Matrix

11.2 Pre-Event vs. Reactive Response

11.3 Split-Brain and Consistency Guarantees

The POLATIS® architecture handles network partition scenarios through three mechanisms:

• Pre-provisioning at deploy time: All protection cross-connects are written to both OCS units at deployment via RESTCONF PATCH and verified with GET. Neither OCS requires the orchestrator to be reachable to maintain its cross-connect state — the switch fabric holds state independently.
• OCS-local APS: Hardware Automatic Protection Switching operates within the OCS itself, triggered by OPM alarm, without any orchestrator involvement. Even in a total management network partition, the OCS at the secondary site will switch to the protection path on detecting the working-path power alarm.
• Idempotent RESTCONF operations: PATCH operations on the POLATIS® RESTCONF API are idempotent. If the orchestrator sends the same PATCH twice due to a retry, the switch state is identical. The GET cross-connects resource allows the orchestrator to verify the current state before issuing a PATCH, preventing conflicting updates.

12. Competitive Landscape and Technology Positioning

12.1 Technology Comparison: OCS vs. Alternatives

12.2 When OEO / IP-Layer Switching Alone Is Insufficient

IP-layer failover (BGP, VRRP, MPLS FRR) is complementary to, not a substitute for, Layer 1 protection. Three fundamental limitations apply in a physical-layer DR scenario:

• BGP detects failure when a session drops — which requires the TCP keepalive timeout (typically 30–180 seconds in non-tuned deployments) or the BGP hold timer to expire. By this point, the physical failure has already caused seconds to minutes of traffic loss.
• MPLS Fast Reroute operates in < 50 ms but requires the MPLS control plane to have pre-computed alternate paths. It cannot pre-provision at the physical layer or detect gradual optical degradation.
• Neither mechanism provides proactive optical power monitoring. A connector degrading over weeks will not trigger any IP-layer alert until the link actually fails.

The POLATIS® OCS addresses all three gaps: it switches in < 50 ms (same as MPLS FRR but at the physical layer, before any IP-layer protocol is affected), it detects degradation continuously via OPM, and it preserves IP-layer session state by restoring the physical path before TCP or BGP timers expire.

12.3 MEMS vs. DirectLight™: A Technical Comparison

13. HUBER+SUHNER Ecosystem: CDR Cabinet, LISA™, IANOS™, and POLATIS®

14. Why Act Now

• Regulatory pressure: DORA (EU, Jan 2025), NERC CIP-014, HIPAA, SOX, PCI-DSS all mandate documented, tested physical resilience.
• AI/HPC workloads demand ultra-low RTO: GPU training runs interrupted mid-epoch require full restart; inference serving has direct revenue impact per second of outage.
• Physical sabotage risk is growing: Deliberate fiber cuts targeting enterprise and telco networks reported across Europe and North America.
• Early adoption builds operational muscle memory: Organizations that deploy and test today develop the runbooks and tooling that competitors will scramble to replicate after an incident.

15. Conclusion

The HUBER+SUHNER physical layer ecosystem — POLATIS® OCS for automated switching, LISA™ splice cassettes for dark fiber termination (144F/½RU, 12×MTP), IANOS™ ToR chassis for MTP-to-LC breakout (Lite or HD, separate from CDR), and CDR as the ODF rack cabinet housing the LISA™ splice termination system — provides the complete infrastructure foundation for data center DR at the physical layer.

The POLATIS® RESTCONF API makes the OCS programmable from any standard HTTP client. The C# patterns in Section 8 provide a ready-to-use foundation for .NET teams building automated DR orchestration services. Combined with sub-50 ms APS, real-time OPM monitoring, and dark fiber pre-provisioning, this architecture closes the Layer 1 gap that limits every traditional DR program.

Next Steps

• Contact HUBER+SUHNER Polatis for a DR fiber architecture review and OCS sizing consultation
• Request POLATIS® Series 7000 evaluation unit and RESTCONF API sandbox access
• Engage HUBER+SUHNER for CDR cabinet + LISA™ + IANOS™ design services for your DR sites
• Begin integration of the C# RESTCONF client into your existing monitoring and orchestration platform

References and Data Sources

All product specifications cited in this whitepaper are drawn from primary HUBER+SUHNER and Polatis product documentation. Where industry data is cited, the original source is identified. Readers are encouraged to verify specifications against current product datasheets, as product lines are subject to update.

HUBER+SUHNER Product Documentation

Industry and Regulatory Sources

Note on data currency: Product specifications are sourced from HUBER+SUHNER product documentation available at the time of writing. Readers should verify current specifications at hubersuhner.com and polatis.com before making procurement decisions.

Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

Appendix B: Executive Brief — One-Page Summary

Automated DR at the Physical Layer Using POLATIS® OCS

The Problem

Enterprise DR programs automate routing, compute failover, and database replication — but leave the physical optical fiber layer managed manually. A single fiber cut or connector failure will defeat every higher-layer DR investment. Manual re-patching takes 30 minutes to 4 hours. The industry average cost of downtime exceeds $300,000 per hour.

The Solution

HUBER+SUHNER POLATIS® Optical Circuit Switches (OCS) deployed at both primary and secondary sites provide automated physical-layer protection switching with sub-50 ms failover. Integrated optical power meters detect signal degradation before link failure. Pre-provisioned dark fiber protection paths activate with a single software command. The RESTCONF API (RFC 8040) enables any .NET or web platform to orchestrate physical-layer failover programmatically.

The Physical Layer Foundation

• LISA™ Splice Cassettes (inside CDR cabinet) — 144F/½RU spliced to 12× MTP; no mated connectors on dark fiber entry side
• IANOS™ Fiber Management — High-density MTP breakout adjacent to OCS; swing-out access without disrupting live connections
• CDR ODF Cabinet — 47U front-accessible rack enclosure housing all LISA™ modules; structured demarcation between dark fiber plant and OCS infrastructure

The Business Case

The Programmatic Advantage

The POLATIS® RESTCONF API exposes cross-connect management, optical power telemetry, APS configuration, and event logging over standard HTTP. A .NET BackgroundService monitoring service — approximately 60 lines of C# — can poll OPM readings every 5 seconds and issue a PATCH to activate a protection path automatically when power falls below threshold. No vendor-specific SDK. No proprietary protocol. Standard RFC 8040.

Regulatory Context

DORA (EU, Jan 2025), NERC CIP-014, HIPAA, SOX, and PCI-DSS all include requirements for documented, tested physical infrastructure resilience. Automated L1 DR with POLATIS® OCS provides the evidence trail — via RESTCONF event logs and remote syslog — that auditors require.

Call to Action

• Request a DR fiber architecture review from HUBER+SUHNER Polatis
• Access the POLATIS® RESTCONF API sandbox for .NET integration prototyping
• Engage HUBER+SUHNER for CDR cabinet + LISA™ + IANOS™ design and sizing services at your DR sites