Process and system for an integrated carrier ethernet exchange

• US 8,509,249 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2010
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Inventors: Youn, Sukwan, Patterson, Lane Gordon, Waldrop, Craig Alan, Felbinger, Kirk
• Primary Examiner(s): ABELSON, RONALD B
• Application Number:
  US12/875,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20110058547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 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 exchanger is coupled to two or more Ethernet networks to exchange information among the two or more Ethernet networks using virtual circuits. A first Ethernet network is associated with a first carrier and a first port of the Ethernet exchanger. A second Ethernet network is associated with a second carrier and a second port of the Ethernet exchanger. Network information of the first Ethernet network and network information of the second Ethernet network are provided by the respective first carrier and the second carrier and stored in a database. A virtual circuit is provisioned to interconnect the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network based on a partnership between the first carrier and the second carrier and based on the stored information about the first network and the second network. The virtual circuit is associated with the first port and the second port. The stored information about the first network or the second network is reusable for subsequent provisioning of other virtual circuits associated with the first carrier or the second carrier.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an Ethernet exchanger coupled to two or more Ethernet networks to exchange information among the two or more Ethernet networks using virtual circuits, where the Ethernet exchanger is configured to perform translation services between the two or more Ethernet networks including protocol handshaking, bandwidth requirements, and quality of service (QoS), independent of the type of Ethernet service or network configuration parameters used in either Ethernet network,

wherein a first Ethernet network is associated with a first carrier and has wiring of that first Ethernet network connected up to a first port of the Ethernet exchanger, and a second Ethernet network is associated with a second carrier and has wiring of that second Ethernet network connected up to a second port of the Ethernet exchanger,

wherein network information of the first Ethernet network and network information of the second Ethernet network are provided by the respective first carrier and the second carrier through one or more templates presented by an online web portal cooperating with a physical switch fabric of the Ethernet exchanger and stored in a searchable relational database,

wherein a virtual circuit is provisioned to cross connect the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network based on a partnership between the first carrier and the second carrier and based on the stored information about the first network and the second network, the virtual circuit associated with the first port and the second port, and

wherein the stored information about the first network or the second network is reusable for subsequent provisioning of other virtual circuits for the first carrier or the second carrier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network are coupled to the Ethernet exchanger via network-to-network interfaces (NNI).

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information about the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network is received based on one or more templates presented by an online web portal cooperating with a physical switch fabric of the Ethernet exchanger to one or more users from the first carrier, the second carrier, or both on that user'"'"'s client machine, wherein the templates solicit carrier information and direct that solicited information into fields of the relational database.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured to enable the two or more Ethernet networks to be connected with one another using a one-to-many topology or many-to-many topology, and wherein the relational database is to aggregate the carrier information from all of the Ethernet networks connected to the Ethernet exchanger.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein to exchange information between the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network, the Ethernet exchanger is configured to perform virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) translation, maximum transmission unit (MTU) adaptation and VLAN tag protocol identifier (TPID) translation and is configured to perform VLAN frame translation, bandwidth translation and QoS mapping based on the information associated with the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network acquired via the templates and extracted into the relational database, and wherein a coded routine is configured to extract the information from the templates into the fields of the relational database.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured to preserve protocol data unit (PDU) portion of frames received from the first Ethernet network or the second Ethernet network, while translating the VLAN ID, the MTU adaptation, the VLAN TPID translation, the VLAN frame translation, the bandwidth translation and the QoS mapping.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured to provide monitoring, troubleshooting and ticketing information as related to both the virtual circuit provisioned between the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network as well as the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network themselves.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured to provide the monitoring, troubleshooting and ticketing information using the online web portal and application programming interfaces (APIs).

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is integrated with the online web portal, and wherein the first carrier and the second carrier can use a template of the online web portal to generate a request for quote (RFQ) for the virtual circuit, and wherein users of the first carrier and the second carrier can create customer accounts with their information, and once entered into the relational database, the information from the customer account stored in the relational database is used to populate fields of the RFQ.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the Ethernet exchanger has a provisioning module coded to provision a virtual circuit between the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network based on information in a virtual circuit request and information stored in the relational database, where non-pre-populated information entered into the virtual circuit request is extracted and stored in the relational database, and then the information in the virtual circuit request along with the information already known and stored about the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network is used by the provisioning module to create the virtual circuit between the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the online web portal is configured to enable the first carrier and the second carrier to create unique customer accounts and to showcase network information to other carriers using one or more templates, wherein the one or more templates include fields that correspond to fields of records that are stored in the relational database, and wherein the network information comprises lit building lists, detailed services description and QoS guarantees.

12. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the online web portal is configured to enable the first and the second carriers to qualify, search for potential partners, buy services, sell services and order services.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured as an interconnection service that aggregates and translates private Ethernet services via templates and applied through the online web portal integrated with the physical switch fabric of the Ethernet exchanger, where the Ethernet exchanger provides a many-to-many Layer 2 Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) in which multiple carriers, each having its own Ethernet network, connect to their own port on the Ethernet exchanger and are interconnected with other carriers also connected to the Ethernet exchanger, and wherein the Ethernet exchanger and the online web portal cooperate to standardize the network-to-network connection process.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is configured as a transparent aggregation translator between the first and the second Ethernet networks, wherein the online web portal hosted on a server presents templates to a user on a client machine to allow the user to create a profile for the first carrier or the second carrier, the profile including services offered, wherein a configuration module extracts information from the templates and store this information in the relational database, and wherein profile information from all of the users is aggregated to provide complete and relevant information in response to a search query into the online web portal, wherein the database has one or more intelligent routines to discover the queried information and to present the aggregated information relevant to the query of the user to the user, wherein the aggregated information includes a list of a carrier'"'"'s lit buildings, capacity, price, and service level, and wherein the relational database is configured to store contents from those templates, aggregate the stored contents and make the aggregated information searchable and publishable.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet exchanger is integrated with the online web portal to form a marketplace where the carriers can learn services offered by other carriers, qualify them and set up connections with the other carriers, the online web portal including a configuration module to allow the carriers to publish information, find information published by other carriers, and fill out templates based on information provided by the carriers, wherein the online web portal is configured to cause the Ethernet exchanger to provision the virtual circuits based on the filled out templates.

16. A method comprising:

retrieving stored profile information for a first carrier and a second carrier based on receiving a request to provision a virtual circuit to connect an Ethernet network of the first carrier with an Ethernet network of the second carrier, wherein the virtual circuit is to be provisioned by a switch fabric having interconnectivity capability, and wherein the stored profile information for the first carrier and the second carrier is collected using one or more templates associated with a web-based user interface;

provisioning the virtual circuit based on the stored profile information for the first carrier and the second carrier;

translating frames to be transmitted between the first Ethernet network and the second Ethernet network, wherein said translating includes converting Ethernet frames into Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) frames while transiting across the virtual circuit, performing frame adaptation based on maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the first and second Ethernet networks, mapping quality of services (QoS) between the first and second Ethernet network and preserving protocol data unit (PDU) portion of frames received from the first and second Ethernet network; and

providing monitoring and troubleshooting information using the web-based interface and application programming interfaces (APIs).

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising using the web-based user interface to enable the first carrier and the second carrier to be qualified, to sell or buy network services, to generate request for quote (RFQ), to provide solutions to the RFQ, and initiate provisioning requests.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the profile information of the first carrier and the second carrier is stored in a relational database and is to be reused when another virtual circuit is to be provisioned for the respective first carrier or second carrier.

19. A system comprising:

means for requesting profile information and storing the profile information of a first carrier and a second carrier using one or more templates presented by an online web portal, the profile information including information about their respective Ethernet networks;

means for enabling the first carrier and the second carrier to generate a request for service and to provide a solution to the request for service;

means for enabling the first carrier and the second carrier to place an order for a virtual circuit to connect their Ethernet networks;

means for provisioning the virtual circuit between a port associated with the first carrier and a port associated with the second carrier in a switch;

means for translating frames to be transmitted between the first and second Ethernet network; and

means for enabling the first carrier or the second carrier to place an order for another virtual circuit without the first carrier or the second carrier having to provide its profile information a second time.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for the first carrier and the second carrier to monitor and trouble shoot issues related to the virtual circuit.