NETWORK CONFIGURATION AND ROUTING

• US 20080317237A1
• Filed: 06/19/2007
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Network Services, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Peaslee, Edmund W. III, LOZANO, Elena
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13109 Initializing, personal profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1338 Inter-exchange connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13399 Virtual channel/circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

A system may install a trunk between a first switch and an end office, where the trunk is a trunk home for the end office. The system may further identify Numeric Numbering exchanges (NXXs) that home to the end office. Traffic for at least one of the identified NXXs is routed to the end office through a second switch that is different than the first switch. The system also causes traffic for the identified NXXs to be routed to the first switch.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving first information relating to a trunk to be added between a switch and an end office;

receiving second information indicating that the trunk is a trunk home for the end office; and

automatically creating a virtual destination for the end office based on the received first information and the received second information, the virtual destination representing a group of first network devices associated with the end office and identifying the switch.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of network devices includes a group of tandem switches.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically creating includes:

identifying Numeric Numbering exchanges (NXXs) that home to the end office, and

grouping tandem switches that route traffic to the end office for the identified NXXs to form the virtual destination.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a report identifying routing changes to be made to a group of switches in response to receiving the first information and the second information to cause the group of switches to route traffic for the end office to the switch.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the report identifies network routing prior to the trunk being added and network routing after the trunk has been added.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the report further indicates that the switch is to route traffic to the end office over the trunk prior to routing the traffic to other network devices.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

performing an audit of the identified routing changes; and

providing results of the audit.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

causing the routing changes to be made to the group of switches, and

causing the routing changes to be made to the switch.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

updating a database to reflect the routing changes to the group of switches and the switch.

10. A system comprising:

a device to;

receive first information relating to a trunk to be added between a switch and an end office,

receive second information indicating that the trunk is a trunk home for the end office, and

automatically identify network routing changes to be made based on the received first information and the received second information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the network routing changes include routing changes to long distance switches in a long distance network and changes to the switch.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein, when automatically identifying network routing changes, the device is configured to:

identify Numeric Numbering exchanges (NXXs) that home to the end office, and

group network devices that route traffic for the identified NXXs to the end office as a virtual destination for the end office.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the virtual destination is associated with a name that identifies the switch.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the network devices include tandem switches.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the device is further configured to:

perform an audit of the network routing changes to identify issues that would occur if the network routing changes were implemented.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the device is further configured to:

cause the network routing changes to be made to a group of long distance switches and the switch.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the device is further configured to:

update a database to reflect the network routing changes after causing the network routing changes to be made to the group of long distance switches and the switch.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the identified network routing changes includes a change to the switch that causes the switch to route traffic to the end office over the added trunk prior to routing traffic to other network devices.

19. A method comprising:

installing a trunk between a first switch and an end office, the trunk being a trunk home for the end office;

identifying Numeric Numbering exchanges (NXXs) that home to the end office, traffic for at least one of the identified NXXs being routed to the end office through a second switch that is different than the first switch; and

causing traffic for the identified NXXs to be routed to the first switch.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the first switch and the second switch include class 3 switches.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

identifying tandem switches that are associated with the identified NXXs; and

grouping the identified tandem switches to form a virtual destination for the end office.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the virtual destination is associated with a name that identifies the first switch.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the causing occurs in response to a command from a user.

24. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

routing the traffic from the first switch directly to the end office over the installed trunk.