Patent ID: 7990965

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing a plurality of branch label switched paths (LSPs), wherein each of the branch LSPs have a same source device and a different one of multiple receiver devices within a computer network, and wherein two or more of the branch LSPs are configured to operate over a single physical interface of the source device; merging, at the source device, the plurality of branch LSPs to establish a point to multi-point (P2MP) LSP having the source device and the multiple receiver devices, wherein the source device provides an ingress for the P2MP LSP, and wherein each of the multiple receiver devices provides at least one of multiple egresses for the P2MP LSP; connecting an ingress layer two (L2) interface to the P2MP LSP with a circuit cross-connect (CCC) switch within the source device such that the ingress L2 interface is connected to the single physical interface; receiving a L2 multicast data unit on the ingress L2 interface of the source device; encapsulating the L2 multicast data unit in a packet; and forwarding only a single copy of the packet on the physical interface for transmission to the multiple receiver devices via the P2MP LSP connected to the ingress L2 interface.