Patent ID: 8190897

Claim:
A method for secure exchange of data in a network comprising a first network device, a second network device, and a remote device, the method comprising: at the first network device: when the second network device has an active first data link with the remote device, establishing an indirect path to the remote device and pre-negotiating first security parameters with the remote device over the indirect path using a network layer protocol; when the first data link becomes inactive, establishing an active second data link with the remote device and exchanging first data with the remote device over the active second data link using the first security parameters; sending a header comprising a System Internet Protocol (SysIP) address that is used by the remote device to identify that the header was sent from the second network device; and wherein the SysIP address is further used by the remote device to determine that the active second data link is with the first network device instead of the second network device.