System and Method for Routing Internet Traffic Over Internet Links

A system for routing internet traffic over a plurality of internet links, the system comprising:

• a plurality of input ports to receive incoming data packets;
• a plurality of output ports coupled to a plurality of internet links, wherein each output port is coupled to an associated internet link;
• switching circuitry, coupled to the plurality of input ports and the plurality of output ports, to couple input ports to selected output ports in response to control signals;
• and
• controller circuitry to generate the control signals using routing instructions;
• and
• an internet route optimizer, coupled to the controller circuitry, to generate routing instructions for incoming data packets using a ranked list of the internet links, wherein the internet route optimizer generates the ranked list of the internet links using:
• (1) financial costs of routing data packets over the internet links,
• (2) a delay associated with routing packets over the internet links, wherein the delay associated with routing packets over the internet links is representative of an amount of time between when a packet is sent over the internet link and when the packet arrives at a predetermined destination, and
• (3) a type of data of the incoming data packets.