Patent ID: 8855122

Claim:
Apparatus for a highly scalable hierarchical multipoint provider bridge network for facilitating interconnection of a plurality of provider networks, comprising: an edge device coupled between a backbone and a first one of the provider networks, the edge device being operable to encapsulate a data unit received from the first provider network with a header, and to forward the encapsulated data unit to the backbone, the header being indicative of a tunnel that is used to support traffic from the first provider network over the backbone; wherein the tunnel is associated with a Virtual Local Area Network (“VLAN”) including at least one Backbone-VLAN (“B-VLAN”) which supports at least one Service-VLAN (S-VLAN); wherein the edge device is operable to process a data unit destined for another provider bridge network to replace a Service-VLAN identifier (S-VID) of a data unit with an Extended Service-VLAN identifier (ES-VID) which identifies an S-VLAN associated with the provider bridge network; and wherein the header further includes a Backbone VLAN Identifier (“B-VID”) which is indicative of a Backbone VLAN tunnel that is used to transport the S-VLANs over the backbone for one level of a plurality of hierarchical levels.