System and method for a communications access network
A system and method are provided for providing access communications between customer locations and a core network service edge. Access flows are handled as carrier-tagged flows through a packet switched network comprising network elements that interpret and manipulate carrier tag values associated with traffic-bearing data frames.
1. A method, comprising:
applying at least one of a second carrier tag and a second carrier tag value to a data frame of a carrier tagged communication at a point along a communications path at which the data frame comprises at least one of a first carrier tag and a first carrier tag value, respectively,
wherein the data frame as sent along at least a portion of the communications path comprises the at least one of a first carrier tag and a first carrier tag value and the at least one of a second carrier tag and a second carrier tag value.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication path is between a customer premise and a service edge.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the carrier tagged communication is sent from the customer premise, and specifies a hardware address that is passed transparently to the service edge.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the hardware address is a media access control (MAC) address.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the carrier-tagged communication includes a payload portion, a customer address portion, and a carrier tag.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the customer address portion includes the hardware address.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the handling of the carrier-tagged communication is based on the carrier tag value along the communications path.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the carrier tag value relates to specifying the communications path.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier-tagged communication includes an ethernet data frame.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a carrier tag to the communication from the customer premise equipment to form the carrier-tagged communication.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications path is associated with either a service emulation instance, a pseudowire, a logical networking tagged path, a tunnel, or a combination thereof.
12. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
apply at least one of a second carrier tag and a second carrier tag value to a data frame of a carrier tagged communication at a point along a communications path at which the data frame comprises at least one of a first carrier tag and a first carrier tag value, respectively,
wherein the data frame as sent along at least a portion of the communications path comprises the at least one of a first carrier tag and a first carrier tag value and the at least one of a second carrier tag and a second carrier tag value.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the data frame supports stackable carrier tags.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the communications path is associated with either a service emulation instance, a pseudowire, a logical networking tagged path, a tunnel, or a combination thereof.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the communication path is between a customer premise equipment (CPE) and a service edge.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the carrier tagged communication is sent from the CPE, and specifies a hardware address that is passed transparently to the service edge.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the hardware address is a media access control (MAC) address.
18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor further causes the apparatus to configure the communications path to emulate a communications protocol used in the communications received from the CPE.
19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the hardware address pertains to the service edge.
20. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor further causes the apparatus to apply a carrier tag to the communication from the CPE to form the carrier-tagged communication.
21. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the carrier-tagged communication includes a payload portion, a customer address portion and a carrier tag.
22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the customer address portion includes the hardware address.