Patent ID: 8619788

Claim:
A method comprising: storing data defining at least one layer two (L2) learning table with an intermediate network device positioned between an aggregation network device and a service provider network device and within a core network that provides wholesale L2 connectivity between customers and a plurality of service providers, wherein the at least one L2 learning table includes entries that are each associated with a service tag that identifies a service virtual local area network (SVLAN) and define an association between interfaces of the intermediate network device and the corresponding service tag without storing an association between an L2 address and the interfaces of the intermediate network device; receiving a packet from the aggregation network device with one of the interfaces of the intermediate network device, wherein the packet includes an L2 address and a service tag identifying an SVLAN; accessing the at least one L2 learning table using the service tag included within the received packet to determine whether any one of the entries of the at least one L2 learning table is associated with the service tag included within the received packet without having any association with the L2 address included within the received packet; and based on the determination that none of the entries of the at least one L2 learning table are associated with the service tag included within the received packet, updating the at least one L2 learning table to create a new entry that is associated with the service tag included within the received packet and define an association between the one of the interfaces of the intermediate network device that received the packet and the service tag included within the received packet without storing an association between a L2 address included within the received packet and the interfaces of the intermediate network device.