Patent ID: 8593949

Claim:
A method of managing a provider network having a provider protocol, the provider network having at least one provider interconnection device for facilitating transmission of messages between at least two client networks in order to create a virtual private network between the two client networks, each of the two client networks using an internal client protocol and having at least one client device to communicate with the at least one provider interconnection device, comprising receiving, by the least one provider interconnection device, a message from a first client device in a first client network addressed to a second client device in a second client network, the message being received according to the internal client protocol of the two client networks; transferring, by the at least one provider interconnection device, data associated with the internal client protocol from the received message into a set of modules associated with a border gateway protocol (BGP); and adding, by the at least one provider interconnection device, an extension to the BGP, the extension providing information on which points the message has passed through in at least one of the two client networks, wherein the extension and the set of modules form parameters of a protocol associated with both the BGP and the internal client protocol.