Patent ID: 7668079

Claim:
A method, in a network manager, for establishing an alternate root endpoint to a root endpoint for one or more calls of a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) group over a soft permanent virtual connection (SPVC), where the P2MP group comprises a plurality of calls from a root endpoint located on a root network element, each call ending at a different leaf endpoint, the method comprising: the network manager detecting a condition requiring calls starting at the root endpoint to be switched to the alternate root endpoint; the network manager causing the root network element to initiate disconnection of at least the calls of the P2MP group that have the alternate root endpoint specified wherein disconnection of a call comprises disconnecting all those connections unique to the call; and the network manager causing a network element on which the alternate root endpoint is located to initiate re-establishment of at least one of the calls of the P2MP group that have the alternate root endpoint specified, using the alternate endpoint as a new root endpoint.