Patent ID: 7703124

Claim:
A network system configured to carry data, comprising: a plurality of network bubbles including both a plurality of known and unknown network bubbles, each of said plurality of network bubbles including both a bubble member configured to transmit and receive data and a network security policy; a plurality of network control points, each network control point including at least one network control point device, wherein each of said plurality of network control points is connected to at least one of said plurality of network bubbles, and wherein one of the at least one network control point devices is configured to enforce the network security policy of the at least one of the plurality of network bubbles that is connected to the one of the at least one network control point devices; a virtual backbone including a network configured to connect said plurality of network control points connected to ones of said plurality of known and unknown network bubbles; a private virtual backbone including a network configured to only connect ones of said plurality of network control points connected to ones of said plurality of known network bubbles, wherein the private virtual backbone includes a registry of local addresses identifying associated bubble members of the plurality of known network bubbles connected to the private virtual backbone; and a connecting device configured to interconnect said private virtual backbone and said virtual backbone, wherein said connecting device is at least one of a group comprising of an inter-bubble device or a set of two serially-connected network control points, and the connecting device separates a local address space of the local addresses from a global address space of the virtual backbone, and the connecting device is configured to convert global addresses of the global address space to local addresses of the local address space and vice versa using the registry of local addresses.