Interconnect system for supply chain management of virtual private network services

• US 7,715,429 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2004
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ent Services Development Corporation LP (DXC Technology Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Page, David J., Halstead, Philip Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Jr.; Michael J
• Application Number:
  US11/003,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20060165087A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/465
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• 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

Abstract

An interconnect system for the supply chain management of network services, preferably virtual private network services, provides a networking architecture and interface usable in delivering substantially measurable virtual private network services involving multiple carriers.

Claims

1. An interconnect domain for providing substantially complete decoupled mediation of network services between one or more carriers connected to a communications network, said interconnect domain comprising:

at least one pair of single interfaces, each interface in the at least one pair configured with substantially the same specification for the removal, from packets transmitted through each interface in the at least one pair, of at least one of network membership information or network distribution protocol label data;

one or more collocation facilities, each collocation facility having a network device configured to decouple connectivity of one or more carriers to said communications network, and at least one gateway associated with each said network device;

a route propagation system in communication with at least two gateways in one or more collocation facilities, said propagation system comprising routers where routing information is hosted for distribution through said communications network; and

a management network in communication with one or more networking elements of said network device and in communication with said route propagation system to facilitate managed operation of said network device and said route propagation system.

2. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect that allows a carrier to connect to at least one of one or more network devices and one or more pairs of network devices.

3. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to gateway interconnect that allows forwarding of site traffic across one or more single logical interfaces.

4. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to gateway interconnect that allows for scalability of said communications network through separated data forwarding from route distribution.

5. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to gateway interconnect that allows for logical separation of one or more grouping of site routing and forwarding information between gateways.

6. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect that allows for decoupling of network membership schemas.

7. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect that allows for substantially secure connections on said gateway to carrier interconnect substantially absent denial of service attack.

8. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect that allows for separation of one or more gateway interfaces from one or more carrier interfaces.

9. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect that allows for substantially separated ownership of a gateway from a carrier.

10. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a gateway to carrier interconnect allowing for support of advanced network services including multi-carrier network enabled multicast.

11. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 in which said route propagation system creates substantially mirrored route propagation paths allowing for substantially no single point of failure in the hosted routing.

12. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 in which said route propagation system allows for grouping of one or more sites or site groups per carrier.

13. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 in which said route propagation system allows for grouping of one or more sites or site groups per network.

14. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 in which said route propagation system allows traffic from a grouping of one or more sites or site groups to ingress or egress a carrier as desired.

15. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 in which said route propagation system allows one or more carriers each network routing and forwarding over a single interface to be associated with a subset of one or more sites within said communications network or with all network sites.

16. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling an interconnect that allows a carrier to restrict per VPN the number of routes learned from or advertised to one or more carriers.

17. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling an interconnect that allows a carrier to summarize per VPN routes learned from or advertised to one or more carriers.

18. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling an interconnect that allows a carrier to load balance traffic across one or more networking devices.

19. The interconnect domain according to claim 1 further enabling a single gateway router configuration that allows any IP based VPN carrier to connect to a service grid.

20. An interconnect domain for providing performance-based network services, said interconnect domain comprising:

at least one pair of single interfaces, each interface substantially similarly configured, for the removal, from packets transmitted through each interface, of at least one of network membership information or network distribution protocol label data, resulting in substantially complete routing separation over said interconnect domain;

one or more collocation facilities, each collocation facility having a network device configured to standardize connectivity of one or more carriers to a communications network, and at least one gateway associated with each said network device;

a route propagation system in communication with at least two gateways in one or more collocation facilities, said propagation system comprising routers where routing information is hosted for distribution through said communications network; and

a management network in communication with one or more networking elements of said network device and with the route propagation system to facilitate operation of said network device and said route propagation system.

21. A system for providing substantially measurable network service across an interconnect domain connecting one or more carriers to said interconnect domain, said system comprising:

one or more carrier domains connected in a way that each carrier domain is logically separated therefrom, each carrier domain comprising a carrier'"'"'s network backbone, and a pair of routers in communication with said network backbone; and

at least one interconnect domain comprising at least one collocation facility, which has a network device and one or more gateways associated with said network device, a route propagation system for managing and controlling route propagation functions, a management network in communication with said network device and said route propagation system, and a pair of substantially similar single interfaces for separating at least one of the carrier domain from the interconnect domain, the carrier domain from another carrier domain, or the interconnect domain from another interconnect domain by removing, from packets transmitted through each interface in the pair, at least one of network membership information or network distribution protocol label data.

22. The system according to claim 21, said route propagation system allowing traffic to fail over one of said interconnect domain and carrier domain as directed.