Patent ID: 8441983

Claim:
A method comprising: at a controller apparatus in a second mobility sub-domain of a network comprising a plurality of mobility sub-domains, each mobility sub-domain comprising one or more access switches that serve one or more Internet Protocol (IP) subnets that comprises a plurality of IP address, receiving from an access switch in the second mobility sub-domain a mobile announce message indicating that a wireless device has roamed to and associated with a wireless access point on the access switch in the second mobility sub-domain; forwarding the mobile announce message to a central controller apparatus for the plurality of mobility sub-domains, which central controller apparatus determines that the wireless device roamed from a first mobility sub-domain where it was previously associated to a wireless access point on an access switch in the first mobility sub-domain; forwarding the mobile announce message from the central controller apparatus to a controller apparatus in the first mobility sub-domain; at the access switch where the wireless device is attached in the second mobility sub-domain, sending outbound traffic from the wireless device in a tunnel to a tunneling endpoint apparatus in the second mobility sub-domain and receiving inbound traffic for the wireless device in the tunnel from the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the second mobility sub-domain; at the controller in the second mobility sub-domain, configuring the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the second mobility sub-domain to forward the outbound traffic from the wireless device in a tunnel to a tunneling endpoint apparatus in the first mobility sub-domain and to receive inbound traffic for the wireless device in the tunnel from the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the first mobility sub-domain; and at the controller in the first mobility sub-domain, configuring the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the first mobility sub-domain to become a point of presence for the wireless device such that the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the first mobility sub-domain receives the inbound traffic for the wireless device and forwards it in the tunnel to the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the second mobility sub-domain and receives the outbound traffic from the wireless device in the tunnel from the tunneling endpoint apparatus in the second mobility sub-domain and forwards the outbound traffic natively.