Patent ID: 7058716

Claim:
A method of providing a high bandwidth connection from a user location to a target location, wherein said user location is connected to said target location by a service provider network, comprising: receiving an order for initial installation of said high bandwidth connection from said user location to said target location, said user location is connected to said service provider network by a local loop, and said user location is to communicate with said service provider network using digital subscriber loop (DSL) technology, said service provider network comprises a plurality of DSL access multiplexors (DSLAMs) and a transport network, wherein said transport network interconnects said DSLAMs, said transport network comprising a plurality of switches, said user location being connected to a port of a DSLAM comprised in said plurality of DSLAMs, and said target location being connected to a port of a first switch comprised in said plurality of switches; provisioning a virtual connection automatically on said service provider network without manually configuring the network for service after receiving said order, said provisioning comprises: determining said port of said DSLAM; determining said port of said first switch; and issuing commands to provision said virtual connection between said port of said DSLAM and said port of said first switch, wherein the automatic provisioning enables a service provider to process said order efficiently and wherein a network manager is designed to issue commands to said transport network and a computer system is designed to issue commands to said DSLAM, said issuing commands to provision said virtual connection between said port of said DSLAM and said port of said first switch comprising: issuing commands to said network manager from said computer system to cause said network manager to provision said virtual connection on said transport network; and issuing commands from said computer to said DSLAM to cause said DSLAM to provision said virtual connection between said DSLAM and said transport network generating a virtual connection identifier in said computer system; and configuring said virtual connection between said port of said switch to said target location using said virtual connection identifier generated in said computer system.