Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of measuring at least one transport link's performance in a communications network. An originating device controlled by a customer may generate testing frames that are transported to a receiving device also controlled by the customer through the at least one transport link that connects the two devices. In some embodiments, the transport links may transfer the testing frames while the transport links are transporting other data traffic. The receiving device may parse incoming frames and, upon identifying the testing frames, may generate echoing response frames. In some embodiments, the echoing response frames may be placed in one of a series of priority-based service queues. The originating device may then receive the response frames through the transport links and may measure the stream of incoming frames to measure and analyze the transport links' performance.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention employ specially adapted P2MP and MP2P transmission techniques to communicate traffic of a TDM based SCADA system over an IP/MPLS based network. Advantageously, by specially adapting P2MP and MP2P transmission techniques to carry TDM based SCADA traffic over an IP/MPLS network, an existing TDM based SCADA system can be migrated to an IP/MPLS network and operated in an easy to manage and bandwidth efficient manner as compared to a solution that employs point-to-point connections between a SCADA master node and subsystems over an IP/MPLS network. Furthermore, since TDM based SCADA equipment would not need to be replaced with IP based SCADA equipment in such a migration, significant equipment and installation costs associated with such replacement can be avoided.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention employ specially adapted P2MP and MP2P transmission techniques to communicate traffic of a TDM based SCADA system over an IP/MPLS based network. Advantageously, by specially adapting P2MP and MP2P transmission techniques to carry TDM based SCADA traffic over an IP/MPLS network, an existing TDM based SCADA system can be migrated to an IP/MPLS network and operated in an easy to manage and bandwidth efficient manner as compared to a solution that employs point-to-point connections between a SCADA master node and subsystems over an IP/MPLS network. Furthermore, since TDM based SCADA equipment would not need to be replaced with IP based SCADA equipment in such a migration, significant equipment and installation costs associated with such replacement can be avoided.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of measuring at least one transport link's performance in a communications network. An originating device controlled by a customer may generate testing frames that are transported to a receiving device also controlled by the customer through the at least one transport link that connects the two devices. In some embodiments, the transport links may transfer the testing frames while the transport links are transporting other data traffic. The receiving device may parse incoming frames and, upon identifying the testing frames, may generate echoing response frames. In some embodiments, the echoing response frames may be placed in one of a series of priority-based service queues. The originating device may then receive the response frames through the transport links and may measure the stream of incoming frames to measure and analyze the transport links' performance.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of measuring at least one transport link's performance in a communications network. An originating device controlled by a customer may generate testing frames that are transported to a receiving device also controlled by the customer through the at least one transport link that connects the two devices. In some embodiments, the transport links may transfer the testing frames while the transport links are transporting other data traffic. The receiving device may parse incoming frames and, upon identifying the testing frames, may generate echoing response frames. In some embodiments, the echoing response frames may be placed in one of a series of priority-based service queues. The originating device may then receive the response frames through the transport links and may measure the stream of incoming frames to measure and analyze the transport links' performance.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method of preserving accuracy in dual-ended frame loss measurement system between a first node and a second node in a packet switching network, especially by Ethernet routers, switches and bridges supporting ITU-T Y.1731 dual-ended LM functionality by enhancing the behavior of dual-ended frame loss measurement to permit enabling and disabling the loss measurement at each node separately without incurring erroneous errors.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of measuring at least one transport link's performance in a communications network. An originating device controlled by a customer may generate testing frames that are transported to a receiving device also controlled by the customer through the at least one transport link that connects the two devices. In some embodiments, the transport links may transfer the testing frames while the transport links are transporting other data traffic. The receiving device may parse incoming frames and, upon identifying the testing frames, may generate echoing response frames. In some embodiments, the echoing response frames may be placed in one of a series of priority-based service queues. The originating device may then receive the response frames through the transport links and may measure the stream of incoming frames to measure and analyze the transport links' performance.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are directed to efficiently processing packet traffic in a system such as a switch or router having a distributed architecture. An internal header is appended to an ingress packet by an ingress packet processing device before the packet is forwarded to a fabric switch of the system. The internal header corresponds to a configuration of an ingress interface over which the packet was received. An egress packet processing device, upon receiving the packet from the switch, processes the packet based on the internal header and a configuration of an egress interface associated with the egress device. Advantageously, some packet tag manipulation operations are performed only at the egress packet processing device; thereby somewhat freeing up ingress packet processing resources.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods of recovering synchronization for multiple-link communications are disclosed. Streams of communication traffic on a plurality of communication links from which communication traffic is to be extracted and combined into a single communication traffic stream are monitored for receipt of synchronization information for each link. In the event that an error occurs in receipt of the synchronization information for any of the communication links, a stream received on each affected link is modified. For example, traffic may be removed from or inserted into a received stream where synchronization information for a link is received twice or received earlier than expected, respectively. If synchronization information for a link is missing, then it may be generated and inserted into the stream received on that link.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods of recovering synchronization for multiple-link communications are disclosed. Streams of communication traffic on a plurality of communication links from which communication traffic is to be extracted and combined into a single communication traffic stream are monitored for receipt of synchronization information for each link. In the event that an error occurs in receipt of the synchronization information for any of the communication links, a stream received on each affected link is modified. For example, traffic may be removed from or inserted into a received stream where synchronization information for a link is received twice or received earlier than expected, respectively. If synchronization information for a link is missing, then it may be generated and inserted into the stream received on that link.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for redundancy protection of IMA groups. A protection IMA state machine is synchronized with a working IMA state machine before a hot redundant switch is made. The SCCI number is transmitted directly from the working IMA state machine to the protection state machine over an IMA synchronization link, while delta information is transmitted from the working IMA state machine for use by the protection IMA state machine to derive the frame sequence number.