Technique for ethernet access to packet-based services

A method for routing at least one frame from one Ethernet protocol network to at least one other network, each network having at least one platform serving at least one customer associated with a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), such that the frame passes from one sending customer associated with a first VLAN served by a first platform to at least one receiving customer associated with a second VLAN served by a second platform, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving at said first platform said one frame from said one sending customer, said one frame containing a Virtual LAN (VLAN) identifier field;
• (b) overwriting VLAN identifier field in said one frame with a customer descriptor that identifies said sending customer;
• c) using the customer descriptor to map a path from the first platform to the second platform;
• and
• (d) routing the frame on the path.

An Ethernet protocol network comprising:

• a fiber ring infrastructure;
• and
• a plurality of platforms coupled to the fiber ring infrastructure, each platform serving at least one customer for statistically multiplexing frames onto the fiber ring infrastructure from said one customer and for statistically de-multiplexing frames off the fiber ring infrastructure to the one customer
• wherein each platform sending a frame overwrites said frame with a customer descriptor that identifies the sending customer;
• and routes the frame on a path obtained by mapping the customer descriptor to such path.

In an Ethernet protocol network having a plurality of platforms, with at least a first second platforms serving a group of members, a method of routing at least one frame from at least one sending member of group served by a first platform to at least one receiving member of the served by a second platform, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving at said first platform said at least one frame from said sending member;
• (b) modifying said one frame with a customer descriptor that identifies said group of members;
• (c) mapping the customer descriptor to a path in the network between first and second platforms;
• and
• (d) routing the frame on the path to the receiving member served by the second platform.