Real time configuration and provisioning for a carrier ethernet exchange

• US 8,379,656 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2010
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Inventors: Waldrop, Craig Alan, Youn, Sukwan, Patterson, Lane Gordon
• Primary Examiner(s): ABELSON, RONALD B
• Application Number:
  US12/875,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20110058565A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 370/395.53, 370/401
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3054 Auto-negotiation, e.g. access control between switch gigabit interface connector [GBIC] and link

Abstract

An Ethernet switch platform is configured to receive and process a provisioning order to establish a logical virtual circuit interconnecting a physical port associated with a buying carrier and a physical port associated with a selling carrier to set up a private network to private network connection between the buying and selling carriers. The virtual circuit is established with parameters called for in a request for quote (RFQ) initiated by the buying carrier and in a response to the RFQ submitted by the selling carrier. Information from the RFQ and from the response together with information previously stored in a relational database is extracted and used to fill out the provisioning order. The information extracted from the database include profile information and network service information associated with the buying and selling carriers.

Claims

1. A method for auto-provisioning circuits to interconnect private Ethernet networks using an Ethernet exchange platform, the method comprising:

providing templates to enable multiple Ethernet service providers to become qualified and participate in the Ethernet exchange platform configured to provide a many-to-many layer 2 Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) to enable the multiple carriers to connect to the Ethernet exchange platform and be interconnected with other carriers also connected to the Ethernet exchange platform;

providing a web portal to enable the Ethernet service providers to offer their Ethernet services to other Ethernet service providers, the Ethernet services including lit building information, and capacity and bandwidth information, wherein the information is aggregated and stored in a relational database;

based on two Ethernet service providers having a service agreement related to a request for quote (RFQ), populating fields of a provision request using information from the RFQ and information related to the two Ethernet service providers from the relational database, wherein the RFQ and a response to the RFQ are generated using the web portal; and

provisioning one or more circuits in the Ethernet exchange platform based on the fields of the provisioning request to interconnect private Ethernet networks of the two Ethernet service providers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein information provided by the Ethernet service providers via the templates is stored in the relational database for uses any number of times, wherein the provisioning of the one or more circuits is performed in real time by the Ethernet exchange platform based on receipt of the provisioning request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating service information by either of the two Ethernet service providers via the web portal and extracting, storing, and associating the information with a profile information of either of the two Ethernet service providers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting the information from the RFQ and the response to the RFQ by a coded first routine of the Ethernet switch platform to fill out some of the fields of the provision request, and extracting the information from the relational database by a coded second routine of the Ethernet switch platform to fill out some other fields of the provision request.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising checking for consistency of information used for provisioning and cross checking fidelity of the information included in the provision request by the second routine.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the provision request is processed by the Ethernet exchange platform to establish a logical virtual circuit interconnecting a physical port associated with a buying carrier of the two Ethernet service providers and a physical port associated with a selling carrier of the two Ethernet service providers to set up a private network to private network connection, wherein the virtual circuit is established with parameters called for in the RFQ and in the response to the RFQ.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the buying and selling carriers are to connect wirings of their Ethernet networks to their respective physical ports of a plurality of physical ports available with the Ethernet switch platform, wherein each of the plurality of physical ports is associated with one or more VLAN IDs.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring performance of the Ethernet switch platform and providing service and maintenance calls, and providing automated troubleshooting and test or verification steps to fix issues related to the circuit.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by the machine, are configured to cause the machine to perform the operations in claim 1.

10. A system comprising:

means for enabling a plurality of Ethernet service providers to become qualified and to participate in an Ethernet exchange platform configured to provide a many-to-many layer 2 Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) to enable the Ethernet service providers to connect to the Ethernet exchange platform and be interconnected with other Ethernet service providers also connected to the Ethernet exchange platform;

means for forming a web-based marketplace to enable collecting information from the Ethernet service providers and to enable the Ethernet service providers to offer and purchase Ethernet services from one another, the information from the Ethernet service providers stored in a relational database for reuses;

means for enabling two Ethernet service providers to become partners using the web-based marketplace;

means for at least one of the two Ethernet service providers to initiate a provisioning request; and

means for provisioning one or more circuits in the Ethernet exchange platform based on fields of the provisioning request to interconnect private Ethernet networks of the two Ethernet service providers.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for the Ethernet exchange platform to transmit frames in between the private Ethernet networks of the two Ethernet service providers while preserving data portions of the frames; and

means for representatives of the two Ethernet service providers to monitor and troubleshoot the one or more virtual circuits together with their private Ethernet networks.

12. A system comprising:

an Ethernet exchange platform configured to provide a many-to-many layer 2 Network-to-Network Interface (NNI);

a web portal to enable multiple Ethernet service providers to offer their Ethernet services to other Ethernet service providers, the Ethernet services including lit building information, and capacity and bandwidth information, wherein the information is aggregated and stored in a relational database;

templates presented via the web portal to enable the Ethernet service providers to become qualified and participate in the Ethernet exchange platform to enable the multiple carriers to connect to the Ethernet exchange platform and be interconnected with other carriers also connected to the Ethernet exchange platform;

the web portable enabling a request for quote (RFQ) and a response to the RFQ between two Ethernet service providers having a service agreement related to the RFQ, wherein fields of a provision request are populated using information from the RFQ and information related to the two Ethernet service providers from the relational database; and

one or more circuits in the Ethernet exchange platform based on the fields of the provisioning request to interconnect private Ethernet networks of the two Ethernet service providers.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the web portal is configured to store information provided by the Ethernet service providers via the templates in the relational database for use any number of times, wherein Ethernet exchange platform is configured to provision the one or more circuits in real time based on receipt of the provisioning request.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein a first routine of the Ethernet switch platform is coded to extract the information from the RFQ and the response to the RFQ to fill out some of the fields of the provision request, and wherein a second routine of the Ethernet switch platform is coded to extract the information from the relational database to fill out some other fields of the provision request.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the information extracted from the relational database includes network service information comprising virtual local area network (VLAN) frame type, VLAN identifier (ID), tag protocol identifier (TPID), quality of service (QoS) profile type and other related network service information, the network service information previously provided via the web portal.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the provision request is processed by the Ethernet exchange platform to establish a logical virtual circuit interconnecting a physical port associated with a buying carrier of the two Ethernet service providers and a physical port associated with a selling carrier of the two Ethernet service providers to set up a private network to private network connection, wherein the virtual circuit is established with parameters called for in the RFQ and in the response to the RFQ.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the buying and selling carriers are to connect wirings of their Ethernet networks to their respective physical ports of a plurality of physical ports available with the Ethernet switch platform, wherein each of the plurality of physical ports is associated with one or more VLAN IDs.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the VLAN IDs is associated with a unique record to store that network characteristics information of that VLAN ID, wherein the network characteristics information is stored into the relational database and reused for subsequent provisioning of other virtual circuits between the buying and selling carriers, between the buying carrier and another carrier, or between the selling carrier and another carrier.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the Ethernet switch platform is configured to perform translation of frames and mapping of quality of service (Qos) as frames traverse from the Ethernet network of the buying carrier to the Ethernet network of the selling carrier, wherein the translation of frames includes translating Ethernet frame type and Ethernet type.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein frame translation performed by the Ethernet switch platform comprises preserving a portion of an incoming frame including a service frame carrying data, and translating a portion of the incoming frame including at least Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) translation, virtual local area network identifier (VLAN ID) translation and tag protocol identifier (TPID) translation.