Method and system for load balancing in a network platform

A method for load balancing communication session processing in a data network platform, the method comprising:

• maintaining a first table associating a plurality of valid communication sessions being processed by the platform with respective application processing cards of a plurality of application processing cards;
• maintaining a second table associating respective activity loads with the plurality of application processing cards;
• monitoring the respective activity loads of the plurality of application processing cards;
• determining that the activity load of a given application processing card exceeds a predetermined limit for a predetermined period of time;
• identifying a valid communication session being processed by the given application processing card to be moved to another application processing card of the plurality based on at least one of the first table and the second table;
• moving the identified communication session to the other application processing card;
• updating the first table to indicate that the identified communication session has been moved to the other application processing card;
• and
• updating the second table with updated respective activity loads of the plurality of application processing cards after moving the identified communication session.

A network platform for processing data packets comprising:

• a plurality of application processing cards;
• a packet switch card operationally coupled with the plurality of application processing cards;
• and
• a backplane for communicating data packets between the packet switch and the plurality of application processing cards,
• wherein the packet switch card and the plurality of application processing cards include machine executable instructions that, when executed, collectively provide for:
• maintaining a first table associating a plurality of valid communication sessions being processed by the platform with respective application processing cards of the plurality of application processing cards;
• maintaining a second table associating respective activity loads with the plurality of application processing cards;
• monitoring the respective activity loads of the plurality of application processing cards;
• determining that the activity load of a given application processing card exceeds a predetermined limit;
• identifying a valid communication session being processed by the given application processing card to be moved to another application processing card of the plurality based on at least one of the first table and the second table;
• and
• moving the identified communication session to the other application processing card.