Patent ID: 8036230

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a packet at a network element, the network element comprising a plurality of traffic processors corresponding to one Internet Protocol (IP) address, the network element comprising a table including a first entry and a second entry for each subscriber terminal of a plurality of subscriber terminals, the first entry mapping a tunnel endpoint identifier of the subscriber terminal to a particular traffic processor of the plurality of traffic processors, the second entry mapping a subscriber address of the subscriber terminal to the particular traffic processor; if the packet is from a subscriber terminal and addressed to a network coupled to the network element, identifying a particular one of the plurality of traffic processors mapped to a tunnel endpoint identifier of the packet; if the packet is to be directed to the subscriber terminal, identifying the particular one of the plurality of traffic processors mapped to a subscriber address of the packet, the subscriber address identifying the subscriber terminal; and distributing the packet to the particular one of the plurality of traffic processors.