Patent ID: 7801039

Claim:
A method for performing bridging of data traffic over an access domain, the method comprising steps of: receiving data traffic from a first user domain at a first access node, the data traffic being destined to a second user domain; identifying, in the first access node, a service binding corresponding to the received data traffic; tunneling the data traffic in a Unicast message addressed to an access edge node in accordance with the identified service binding; forwarding the tunneled data traffic to the access edge node; receiving the tunneled data traffic at the access edge node; identifying, at the access edge node, the service binding corresponding to the received tunneled data traffic; modifying, at the access edge node, a destination address on the Unicast message to correspond to an address of a second access node of the second user domain in accordance with the identified service binding; redirecting, at the access edge node, the received tunneled data traffic to the second access node in accordance with the identified service binding therein; receiving the redirected tunneled data traffic at the second access node; detunneling the received redirected tunneled data traffic at the second access node; and forwarding the detunneled data traffic from the second access node to the second user domain; wherein the service binding at the first access node contains: an input port identification at a user domain input/output unit, a first virtual access edge node MAC address and a second virtual access edge node MAC address.