Patent ID: 7339929

Claim:
A method for data broadcast over a network, comprising: receiving at a virtual bridge a data packet to be flooded over the network; adding to the data packet an Internet Protocol (IP) header comprising a multicast IP destination address; passing the data packet with the IP header from the virtual bridge to a multicast-capable router; responsive to the multicast IP destination address, determining at the router a group of destinations to which the packet is to be multicast; creating copies of the packet at the router for transmission to the destinations in the group; and removing the IP header and transmitting the copies of the packet over the network, wherein transmitting the copies of the packet comprises transmitting the copies of the packet by tunneling through the network, and wherein transmitting the copies of the packet by tunneling comprises creating a virtual private LAN service (VPLS), and transmitting the copies of the packet using the VPLS.