Multicast wide-area network for distributing data to selected destinations with limited or no replication

A system for a multicast wide-area data distribution service, comprising:

• a layer-two (L2) frame switched wide-area network;
• a first switching device on an edge of the wide-area network, for providing a network interface for receiving data from a data source for the multicast wide-area data distribution service, and sending L2 frames containing the received data into the wide-area network, the received data comprising data feeds;
• a plurality of second switching devices at various locations on an edge of the wider-area network, for providing instances of a user-network interface for supplying data from the L2 frames to customer premises for delivery to data user client devices;
• and
• L2 virtual local area networks (VLANs) provisioned through the wide-area network to extend from the first switching device to the second switching devices, each VLAN for multicast distribution transport of L2 frames containing one of the data feeds from the first switching device to the second switching devices without replication for individual data user client devices inside the wide-area network;
• wherein the user-network interface provided by each second switching device controls the delivery of selected data feeds from the L2 frames of the VLANs responsive to requests for data from the multicast wide-area data distribution service received from one or more respective data user client devices of authorized users.