Interworking Between Ethernet And MPLS

A network core bridge configured to convey customer traffic, the network core bridge comprising:

• an Service Virtual Local Area Network (S-VLAN) component;
• and
• a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) entity,
• wherein the S-VLAN component is configured to:
• receive from a network node an Ethernet frame that carries the customer traffic, and
• forward the Ethernet frame to a next node or to the MPLS entity in dependence of a Service VLAN identifier (S-VID) value of the Ethernet frame,
• wherein the MPLS entity is configured, when the Ethernet frame is received from the S-VLAN component, to:
• act as a Label Switch Router and forward the Ethernet frame to a next node.

A method performed by a network bridge configured to convey customer traffic between a customer equipment and any of a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network and an Ethernet network, the network bridge comprising a Customer Virtual Local Area Network (C-VLAN) component a Service VLAN (S-VLAN) component and an MPLS component, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving from the customer equipment an Ethernet frame that carries the customer traffic,
• forwarding the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component or to the MPLS component in dependence of a Customer VLAN identifier (C-VID) value of the Ethernet frame
• if the Ethernet frame is received by the MPLS component, adding MPLS information to the Ethernet frame, and forwarding the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component;
• and
• forwarding the Ethernet frame to any of the MPLS network and the Ethernet network.

A computer-readable medium storing processing instructions that, when executed by a processor, performs a method in a network bridge configured to convey customer traffic between a customer equipment and any of a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network and an Ethernet network, the network bride comprising a Customer Virtual Local Area Network C-VLAN component, a Service VLAN (S-VLAN) component and an MPLS component, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving from the customer equipment an Ethernet frame that carries the customer traffic,
• forwarding the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component or to the MPLS component in dependence of a Customer VLAN identifier C-VID value of the Ethernet frame
• if the Ethernet frame is received b the MPLS component, adding MPLS information to the Ethernet frame, and forwarding the Ethernet frame to the S-VLAN component;
• and
• forwarding the Ethernet frame to any of the MPLS network and the Ethernet network.