Patent ID: 8351325

Claim:
A system for rapid-deployment and delivery of a layer-2 connection, comprising: a first provider-edge appliance connectable to a first unknown network, the first provider-edge appliance being operable to originate a first open system interconnection (OSI) layer-2 Ethernet pseudo-wire connection over a first packet switch network tunnel connection; at least one provider-core comprising a cross-connect that waits for the first packet switch network tunnel connection, whereupon completing the first packet switch network tunnel connection, the first provider-edge appliance and the at least one provider-core connect to establish the first open system interconnection layer-2 Ethernet pseudo-wire connection through an access port on the first provider-edge appliance and at least one port on a cross-connect on the at least one provider-core; and a second provider-edge appliance connectable to a second unknown network, the second provider-edge appliance originating a second open system interconnection layer-2 Ethernet pseudo-wire connection over a second packet switch network tunnel connection to the at least one provider-core, whereupon completing the second packet switch connection, the first provider-edge appliance and the second provider-edge appliance connect to establish the open system interconnection layer-2 Ethernet pseudo-wire connection through the at least one port on the cross-connect on the at least one provider-core.