Patent ID: 8004964

Claim:
A method, comprising: operating a protected switching provider edge (S-PE) and a backup S-PE, the protected S-PE having at least one multi-segment pseudowire (MS-PW), the protected S-PE located between a first and second provider edge (PE) on the at least one MS-PW; informing the first and second PE of the backup S-PE and a backup transport label to reach the second and first PE, respectively, via the backup S-PE; informing the first and second PE of a backup label expected by the second and first PE, respectively, for the MS-PW; informing the first and second PE of an address of the backup S-PE; detecting loss of connectivity with the protected S-PE by at least one of the first or second PE; and in response to detecting loss of connectivity with the protected S-PE, forwarding packets from the first and second PE to the backup S-PE with the corresponding backup transport label to reach the second or first PE, respectively, via the backup S-PE and the backup label expected by the second or first PE, respectively.