Patent ID: 7593398

Claim:
In a network including a Layer 2 Switching Entity (L2SE) in communication with a Layer 3 Routing Entity (L3RE), a method of performing Layer 2 (L2) interworking comprising: receiving a L2 Protocol Data Unit (PDU) at said L2SE; converting said L2 PDU to a normalized Pseudowire (PW) PDU at said L2SE; and forwarding said normalized PW PDU from said L2SE to said L3RE; wherein the L3RE includes an edge router which is constructed and arranged to provide a virtual L2 interface; and wherein forwarding said normalized PW PDU from said L2SE to said L3RE includes, in an integrated manner, (i) removing tunneling encapsulation from the PW PDU to decapsulate the PW PDU into an Internet Protocol payload and (ii) processing the Internet Protocol payload as a Layer 3 routed packet through the virtual L2 interface.