Method and system for automatically rerouting logical circuit data in a data network

1. A method of automatically rerouting logical circuit data in a data network, the method comprising:

determining, via a network management system, a failure of a logical connection in a logical circuit in the data network, the logical circuit identified by a logical circuit identifier in the data network, the logical circuit comprising variable communication paths in at least one of a local access and transport area or an inter-exchange carrier and a fixed communication path between the local access and transport area and the inter-exchange carrier, and the failed logical connection being between the local access and transport area and the inter-exchange carrier;

identifying, via the network management system, a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path to communicate the data, the logical failover circuit located in a failover network that is separate from the logical circuit, the failover network being reserved to provide failover circuits to communicate data rerouted from failed logical circuits, and the logical failover circuit identified by a second logical circuit identifier in the data network;

renaming the logical circuit identifier of the logical circuit to the second logical circuit identifier of the logical failover circuit; and

rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, determining whether the failure in the logical circuit has been corrected; and

if the failure in the logical circuit has been corrected, then rerouting the data from the logical failover circuit to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising saving reroute data upon rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical circuit identifier is one of a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI) or a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data network is one of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network or a frame relay network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the failure in the logical connection comprises the logical connection no longer communicating data.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after determining the failure in the logical circuit and before rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, offering a failover service in real time to a customer associated with the logical circuit; and

performing the rerouting of the data to the logical failover circuit in response to receiving acceptance of the failover service by the customer.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network management system is in communication with the local access and transport area and separate from switches over which the data is communicated through the logical circuit and the logical failover circuit.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising after determining the failure in the logical circuit, performing the rerouting of the data to the logical failover circuit based on a customer subscription to a failover service, the data to be rerouted for a time period defined in the customer subscription.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local access and transport area is operated by a first carrier different from the inter-exchange carrier, and wherein the logical failover circuit of the failover network reroutes the data around the inter-exchange carrier.

14. A system to automatically reroute logical circuit data in a data network, the system comprising:

a network device to communicate status information for a logical circuit, the logical circuit identified by a first logical circuit identifier in the data network, and the logical circuit comprising variable communication paths in at least one of a local access and transport area or an inter-exchange carrier and a fixed communication path between the local access and transport area and the inter-exchange carrier;

a logical element module, in communication with the network device, to receive the status information for the logical circuit in the data network; and

a network management module, in communication with the logical element module, to:

determine a failure of a logical connection in the logical circuit based on the status information, the failed logical connection being between the local access and transport area and the inter-exchange carrier;

identify a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path to communicate the data, the logical failover circuit located in a failover network that is separate from the logical circuit, the failover network being reserved to provide failover circuits to communicate data rerouted from failed logical circuits, and the logical failover circuit identified by a second logical circuit identifier in the data network;

rename the first logical circuit identifier identifying the logical circuit to the second logical circuit identifier identifying the logical failover circuit prior to rerouting the data from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit; and

reroute the data from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the logical failover circuit comprises at least one unused logical connection.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one unused logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first logical circuit identifier is one of a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI) or a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the data network is one of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network or a frame relay network.

21. The system of claim 14 , wherein the logical failover circuit of the failover network reroutes the data around the inter-exchange carrier.

22. The system of claim 14 , wherein the failure in the logical connection comprises the logical connection no longer communicating data.

23. The system of claim 14 , wherein the network management module is further to:

after determining the failure in the logical circuit and before rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, offer a failover service in real time to a customer associated with the logical circuit; and

perform the rerouting of the data to the logical failover circuit in response to receiving acceptance of the failover service by the customer.

24. The system of claim 14 , wherein the logical element module and the network management module are in communication with the local access and transport area and separate from switches over which the data is communicated through the logical circuit and the logical failover circuit.

25. The system of claim 14 , wherein the local access and transport area is operated by a first carrier different from the inter-exchange carrier.