Patent ID: 7574495

Claim:
A computerized method for managing interworking protocols comprising the following computer-implemented steps: reading a predetermined policy definition from a computer-readable media; a service management system (SMS), operable to automatically configure and control operation of service processing switches, communicatively coupled with a plurality of service processing switches of a service provider, provisioning a first interface of a first service processing switch of the plurality of service processing switches, the first interface associated with a first site of a subscriber of a service provider based upon parameters provided from the predetermined policy definition, said first interface configured to communicate data in accordance with a first protocol, the parameters including a window size, a window timeout, a number of allowed bad events, an event window size and a keep-alive interval; the SMS provisioning a transport network to provide a transport between the first interface and a second interface of a second service processing switch associated with a second site of the subscriber, the transport network communicating in accordance with a second protocol; the SMS provisioning a second interface of the second service processing switch, said second interface configured to communicate data in accordance with the first protocol; the SMS creating a first-protocol-over-second-protocol (FPoSP) Virtual Private Network (VPN) including a first virtual router (VR) corresponding to the first interface and a second VR corresponding to the second interface; the SMS provisioning a private virtual circuit (PVC) between the first service processing switch and the second service processing switch with the transport network; and the first service processing switch and the second service processing switch securely communicating data between the first site and the second site via the PVC by encapsulating header and payload information of the first protocol within protocol data units (PDUs) of the second protocol and encrypting and authenticating PDUs exchanged between the first service processing switch and the second service processing switch.