A two-fiber ring architecture capable of carrying multiple wavelength channels and allowing client self-healing of single point failures. The ring architecture includes a two-fiber optical ring carrying at least one wavelength channel, wherein the wavelength channel has working traffic and protection traffic. The optical ring can include a single ring, two interconnected rings, or multiple interconnected rings. Specifically, the ring architecture includes a first client networking element connected to the optical ring by a first pair of 2×2 add drop matrices and a second client networking element connected to the optical ring by a second pair of 2×2 add drop matrices. At least one interconnect node is also provided when more than one ring is used, wherein the interconnect node has a first 2×2 interconnect matrix and a second 2×2 interconnect matrix. The first 2×2 interconnect matrix routes the working traffic from the first client networking element to the second client networking element. Similarly, the second 2×2 interconnect matrix routes the protection traffic from the second client networking element to the first client networking element. The optical ring includes a first access ring, an inter-office (IOF) ring, and a second access ring. Access rings are connected to the IOF ring by the aforementioned interconnect nodes.