a scalable protection method for connection oriented networks includes a source , a destination , and primary nodes interconnected by working path segments between the source and destination . a point - to - multipoint connection with multiple destinations and additional primary nodes is also supported . each of a number of backup nodes is interconnected with an associated primary node by pre - provisioned shunt segments , and the backup nodes are interconnected among themselves by pre - provisioned protection path segments . upon occurrence of a failure , the primary node upstream of the failure directs input traffic to a shunt segment , and the backup node associated with the upstream primary node directs traffic from the shunt segment to an output protection segment . downstream of the failure , a backup node directs traffic from an input protection segment to a shunt segment , and the primary node associated with the backup node directs the traffic from the shunt segment to a downstream working segment . in this manner , traffic is routed around failures via local switching operations .