Patent ID: 7436840

Claim:
A carrier virtual network system comprising: a carrier virtual network that is accessible by a first telecommunication network managed by a first network system manager, the carrier virtual network comprising at least one portion of layer one resources of a second telecommunication network dedicated to the carrier virtual network, the second telecommunication network managed by a second network system manager, a carrier virtual network system manager comprising: (1) a first interface with the first telecommunication network, wherein the first telecommunications network has network resources for providing services to a customer, the first interface being used to exchange information regarding the layer one resources devoted to a carrier virtual network by the first telecommunication network; (2) a second interface with the second telecommunication network, wherein the first telecommunications network has network resources for providing services to a customer, the second interface being used to exchange information regarding the at least one portion of layer one resources of the second telecommunication network devoted to the carrier virtual network; a first connection linking the first interface to the first network system manager, wherein the first connection comprises a dedicated connection for exchanging information regarding which of the at least one portion of the layer one resources are devoted to the carrier virtual network by the second telecommunications network; and the first network system manager for performing a procedure comprising: (1) maintaining information, dynamically received via the first connection, identifying the at least one portion of layer one resources of the second telecommunication network dedicated to a carrier virtual network that is accessible by the first telecommunication network in a resource allocation record; (2) receiving a customer request to establish service; (3) referencing the resource allocation record to ascertain that the customer request can be satisfied by utilizing the at least one portion of layer one resources of the second telecommunication network dedicated to a carrier virtual network that is accessible by the first telecommunication network, without engaging the second network system manager; and (4) deploying the at least one portion of the second telecommunication network accessible to the first telecommunication network in response to a customer request to establish service, wherein the dedicated layer one resources of the second telecommunications network are freely accessible to the first telecommunications network such that the first network system manager securely manages the dedicated layer one resources as if part of the first telecommunications network.