Patent ID: 8509249
Filing Date: 2013-08-13
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
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.