determining, via the provider edge router, that a failure has occurred in a link or path;

and notifying, via a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) alarm indication signal-path (AIS-P) from the provider edge router, a customer edge router outside the data forwarding network of the failure, the customer edge router becoming aware of the failure in less than one second; Receiving a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) remote defect indication-path (RDI-P) signal from the customer edge router after notifying the customer edge router of the failure, the SONET RDI-P signal instructing the provider edge router to shut down an interface for the failed path coupled to the customer edge router; and ignoring the SONET RDI-P signal.