Patent ID: 8204082

Claim:
A method of transparently provisioning first and second services to a network, the first service being provided by a first application service provider to the network via a first application and the second service being provided by a second application service provider to the network via a second application, the network carrying a plurality of packets each being transmitted by a source to at least one intended destination intended by the source, each of the plurality of packets comprising routing data operative to cause the forwarding of the packet via the network towards the at least one intended destination, the method comprising: interfacing between the first application and an interface to the network; interfacing between the second application and the interface to the network; intercepting, via the interface, each of the plurality of packets prior to a forwarding thereof toward the at least one intended destination; evaluating each intercepted packet based on a first specification of a first subset of the plurality of packets with respect to which the first application is to perform the first service and a second specification of a second subset of the plurality of packets with respect to which the second application is to perform the second service, wherein at least the first specification specifies the first subset based on criteria other than only the routing data contained in the intercepted packet; and acting on the intercepted packet, based on the evaluating, to facilitate the performance of at least one of the first service, second service or a combination thereof with respect to the intercepted packet if the intercepted packet is included in at least one of the specified first subset, second subset, or combination thereof, wherein the acting further comprises: providing the intercepted packet to the first application if the intercepted packet is one of the specified first subset to facilitate the performance of the first service with respect to the intercepted packet and generate a result based thereon; and providing the intercepted packet to the second application if the intercepted packet is one of the specified second subset to facilitate the performance of the second service with respect to the intercepted packet and generate a result based thereon.