Patent ID: 8750287

Claim:
A method for establishing a traffic-engineered connection across resource domains for data transport, each of the resource domains being owned by an associated service provider, the method comprising the steps of: determining, by a service agent, source and destination end-points for the connection; receiving, by the service agent, a service element from each associated service provider, the service element identifying edges of a resource domain owned by the associated service provider and connectivity attributes specifying connectivity provided by the associated service provider between the edges; determining, by the service agent, a chain of adjacent service elements suitable for joining the source and destination end-points based on the identified edges; requesting, by the service agent, a first service provider associated to a service element in the chain to select a first connection segment embodying the service element; receiving, by the service agent, an inter-carrier communication resource identifier from the first service provider, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier indicating communication resources at an inter-carrier interface between an end point of the first connection segment and a resource domain associated to an adjacent service element in the chain; and transferring, by the service agent, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to a second service provider associated to the adjacent service element within a request to select a second connection segment embodying the adjacent service element in the chain.