A method for transmitting traffic in an optical network includes
establishing a light-trail in the optical network between a number of
nodes. The light-trail couples the nodes and is associated with one of a
number of wavelengths in the network. The method also includes, at one or
more of the nodes, receiving traffic from one or more client devices of
the node to be communicated over the light-trail to a destination node
and determining one or more service types associated with the received
traffic. Furthermore, the method includes determining traffic shaping
information for each service type based on information relating to the
arrival of traffic associated with the service type at the node. The
traffic shaping information indicating to the destination node the rate
at which the traffic associated with each service type should be
communicated from the destination node to one or more client devices of
the destination node. In addition, the method includes transmitting the
traffic and the determined traffic shaping information for each service
type to the destination node.