According to one general aspect, a method may include receiving, from an optical transmitter, an optical signal that includes information. In some embodiments, the method may include encapsulating at least a portion of the received information into an Ethernet packet. In various embodiments, the method may include associating a control word with the Ethernet packet. In such an embodiment, the control word may include a status portion that indicates a status of at least a portion of the network including the networking apparatus, and an ordinal number configured to facilitate the re-construction of the information included by the optical signal. In various embodiments, the method may include transmitting the Ethernet packet to a networking apparatus.