According to a further embodiment, a method may include communicatively coupling a first network element to a second network element via a first path of a point-to-point network. The method may also include communicatively coupling the first network element to a third network element via a second path of the point-to-point network. The method may additionally include communicatively coupling the second network element and the third network element to a multipoint-to-multipoint network. The method may further include configuring the first path and the second path as paths of a linear protected switching connection such that traffic associated with a service and communicated between the first network element and the multipoint-to-multipoint network via one of the first path and the second path may be switched over to the other of the first path and the second path in response to an event.