Patent ID: 7912732

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for calculating an approximate cost of services on a virtual private network employing multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and providing an estimate for cost of bandwidth in a network comprising a connection between a first network node and a second network node, the method comprising: computing by a central processor a greatest lower bound (L) for a bandwidth used across the connection between said the first network node and the second network node in the multi-protocol label switching based virtual private network; computing by the central processor a least upper bound (U) for the bandwidth used across the connection between the first network node and the second network node in the multi-protocol label switching based virtual private network; calculating an estimate for the cost of the bandwidth used across the connection between the first network node and the second network node by combining the greatest lower bound, least upper bound and a measure of carrying risk of losing money by carrying a given customer's virtual private network; and providing the calculated estimate for the cost of the bandwidth used across the connection.