Patent ID: 8151000

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing a peering session between a first device associated with a first customer network and a second device associated with a second customer network using a first routing protocol, wherein the first routing protocol comprises an exterior routing protocol; establishing a label switched path (LSP) through a plurality of intermediate networks communicatively coupled between the first customer network and the second customer network; after establishing the peering session and the LSP, transmitting by the first device routing communications over the peering session in accordance with the first routing protocol, the routing communications including layer two (L2) service information comprising L2 address state information for devices in the first customer network, as the L2 address state information is learned by the first device, wherein the L2 service information includes information for L2 sites or end-points within the first customer network and next hop information used to reach the L2 sites or end-points; communicating the L2 service information via the exterior routing protocol using an intermediate route relay device; with the intermediate route relay device via the exterior routing protocol, maintaining and relaying the next hop information unchanged; and providing an L2 service in accordance with the L2 service information to transport L2 communications between the first customer network and the second customer network through the plurality of intermediate networks using the LSP.