Patent ID: 8228928

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a packet from a cable modem; identifying a cable interface and cable service identifier associated with the cable modem; inserting a layer 2 (L2) network identifier into the packet, the L2 network identifier comprising inner and outer Service Provider Virtual Local Area Network (SP-VLAN) tags to be used within a service provider network to bridge the packet across the service provider network, wherein the inner SP-VLAN tag represents a customer VPN in a multipoint L2VPN service wherein the inner SP-VLAN tag is associated with a particular bridge group, wherein the outer SP-VLAN tag represents a single attachment circuit and wherein the outer SP-VLAN tag is associated with a virtual interface trunk; wherein the inner SP-VLAN tag and the outer SP-VLAN tag are added to the packet upon entry into the service provider network; and transmitting the double SP-VLAN tagged packet to an upstream network device; wherein the inner SP-VLAN tag and the outer SP-VLAN tag are removed from the packet prior to exiting the service provider network.