Patent ID: 8862776

Claim:
A communication network comprising: a first Network Address Translator, NAT, arranged to translate between a public NAT address and a plurality of private NAT addresses for a plurality of network elements supported by the first NAT; a first network element of the plurality of network elements having a plurality of network interfaces, each network interface corresponding to a private NAT address; a connection processor for setting up a connection for data communication between the first network element and a second network element, the connection being capable of supporting a plurality of network interfaces for the first network element; an identifier processor for initializing a first network interface identifier for identifying a first network interface for the connection, wherein the first network interface identifier is unique for the connection; a distribution processor for providing the first network interface network interface identifier to at least the first network element, the second network element and the first NAT; and wherein the second network element is arranged to include the first network interface identifier in at least some data packets for the first network element; and the first NAT is arranged to address the at least some data packets to the first network interface of the first network element in response to the first network interface identifier.