Patent ID: 8824338

Claim:
A network element coupled to a communication network, the network element comprising: a plurality of switching units configured to independently implement a Spanning Tree Protocol (xSTP) processing in a distributed manner including each of the plurality of switching units of the network element independently calculating an external spanning tree for the network element in the communication network, the network element acting as a single bridge to other network elements in a bridging domain of the communication network; and a control plane configured to communicatively couple together the plurality of switching units, wherein the plurality of switching units are further configured to independently implement xSTP processing by, for a given switching unit: receiving an external Hello bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) from an external network element and forwarding the external Hello BPDU to other switching units via the control plane; periodically generating and sending internal Hello BPDUs to other switching units in the network element via the control plane; and periodically generating and sending, via a first external port of the given switching unit, external Hello BPDUs to an external network element attached to the first external port of the given switching unit.