Method and system for ethernet and ATM service interworking

1. An interworking device for supporting service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the service interworking device comprising:

a first network interface operable to communicate with the Ethernet communication network using an Ethernet communication protocol;

a second network interface operable to communicate with the ATM communication network using an ATM protocol; and

a processing unit in communication with the first network interface and the second network interface, the processing unit:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network;

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames, the connection configuration control plane information including at least one of connection mapping information, class of service mapping information, and traffic parameters information;

determining a correction factor to map data rates between the Ethernet frames and the ATM frames; and

using traffic parameters from one of the ATM and Ethernet networks to calculate traffic parameters for the other of the ATM and Ethernet networks.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein connection mapping information includes mapping Ethernet connection data to an ATM VCC.

3. The device according to claim 2 , wherein Ethernet connection data includes an Ethernet virtual LAN identifier.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein class of service mapping is used by the processing unit to maintain a desired QoS across the Ethernet and ATM networks.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the Ethernet network supports multiple classes of service, and wherein, for the Ethernet to ATM direction, an ATM VCC is assigned to each Ethernet class of service.

6. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the Ethernet network supports multiple classes of service, and wherein, for the Ethernet to ATM direction, a separate ATM VCC is assigned to at least one Ethernet class of service based on one or more of a virtual LAN identifier, a p-bits value and the Ethernet interface upon which the frame was received.

7. The device according to claim 4 , wherein for the ATM to Ethernet direction:

the Ethernet supports multiple classes of service;

the first network interface is a virtual LAN-aware interface; and

a virtual LAN identifier is determined based on the ATM VCC value and a p-bits value is determined based on an ATM VCC service category.

8. The device according to claim 1 , wherein data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames include at least one of MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI, class of service indicators, congestion information, discard eligibility and a frame length.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI includes mapping an ATM VPI/VCI to at least one of a virtual LAN identifier and a p-bits value and vice versa.

10. The device according to claim 8 , wherein congestion information mapping includes mapping between an explicit forward congestion indication (EFCI) field in the ATM frame and a p-bits value in the Ethernet frame.

11. The device according to claim 8 , wherein discard eligibility mapping includes mapping a cell loss priority (CLP) field in the ATM frame with a p-bits value in the Ethernet frame.

12. The device according to claim 8 wherein the discard eligibility mapping is based on an Ethernet per hop behavior.

13. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the processing unit further drops ATM frames that exceed a maximum supported Ethernet frame length for frames traveling in the ATM to Ethernet direction and drops Ethernet frames that exceed a maximum supported ATM MTU for frames traveling in the Ethernet to ATM direction.

14. An interworking device for supporting service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the service interworking device comprising:

a first network interface operable to communicate with the Ethernet communication network using an Ethernet communication protocol;

a second network interface operable to communicate with the ATM communication network using an ATM protocol; and

a processing unit in communication with the first network interface and the second network interface, the processing unit:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames,

wherein mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames includes:

classifying parameters of a received frame;

mapping and marking the parameters of a received frame into a frame to be transmitted; and

forwarding the frame to one of the first and second network interfaces for transmission.

15. A method for service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the method comprising:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames, the connection configuration control plane information including at least one of connection mapping information, class of service mapping information, and traffic parameters information;

determining a correction factor to map data rates between the Ethernet frames and the ATM frames; and

using traffic parameters from one of the ATM and Ethernet networks to calculate traffic parameters for the other of the ATM and Ethernet networks.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein connection mapping information includes mapping Ethernet connection data to an ATM VCC.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein Ethernet connection data includes an Ethernet virtual LAN identifier.

18. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising using the class of service mapping to maintain a desired QoS across the Ethernet and ATM networks.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the Ethernet network supports multiple classes of service, and wherein the method further comprises, for the Ethernet to ATM direction, assigning an ATM VCC to each Ethernet class of service.

20. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the Ethernet network supports multiple classes of service, and wherein the method further comprises, for the Ethernet to ATM direction, assigning a separate ATM VCC to at least one Ethernet class of service based on one or more of a virtual LAN identifier, a p-bits value and the Ethernet interface upon which the frame was received.

21. The method according to claim 18 , wherein for the ATM to Ethernet direction:

the Ethernet supports multiple classes of service;

the first network interface is a virtual LAN-aware interface; and

the method further comprises:

determining a virtual LAN identifier based on the ATM VCC value; and

determining a p-bits value based on an ATM VCC service category.

22. A method for service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the method comprising:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames;

wherein data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames include at least one of a MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI, class of service indicators, congestion information, discard eligibility and a frame length; and

wherein discard eligibility mapping includes mapping a cell loss priority (CLP) field in the ATM frame with a p-bit in the Ethernet frame.

23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI includes mapping an ATM VPI/VCI to at least one of a virtual LAN identifier and a p-bits value and vice versa.

24. The method according to claim 22 , wherein congestion information mapping includes mapping an explicit forward congestion indication (EFCI) field in the ATM frame with a p-bit in the Ethernet frame.

25. A method for service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the method comprising:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames, data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames including at least one of a MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI, class of service indicators, congestion information, discard eligibility and a frame length,

wherein the discard eligibility mapping is based on an Ethernet per hop behavior.

26. A method for service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the method comprising:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames, data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames including at least one of a MAC address/virtual LAN identifier mapping to/from an ATM VPI/VCI, class of service indicators, congestion information, discard eligibility and a frame length; and

dropping ATM frames that exceed a maximum supported Ethernet frame length for frames traveling in the ATM to Ethernet direction; and

dropping Ethernet frames that exceed a maximum supported ATM MTU for frames traveling in the Ethernet to ATM direction.

27. A method for service interworking between an Ethernet communication network and an ATM network, the method comprising:

terminating frames received from a one of the ATM communication network and the Ethernet communication network; and

mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames, the mapped parameters including connection configuration control plane information and data plane parameters corresponding to individual frames,

wherein mapping parameters corresponding to the received one of the ATM and Ethernet frames into the other of the ATM and Ethernet frames includes:

classifying parameters of a received frame;

mapping and marking the parameters of a received frame into a frame to be transmitted; and

forwarding the frame to one of the first and second network interfaces for transmission.

28. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising performing interworking with a third communication network employing a networking technology other than Ethernet and ATM, the third communication network being coupled between the Ethernet communication network and the ATM communication network, wherein the service interworking is performed on one of the Ethernet side and the ATM side of the third communication network.