Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sending, from a processing system, a message to a destination identified in the message, the destination being one of a plurality of destinations, the message being sent via an intermediate module, each of the processing system and the destinations being connected to the intermediate module by individual point-to-point connections, comprising: resolving the address of the destination identified in the message; sending the message and the resolved address across the connection to the intermediate module; and at the intermediate module, receiving the message and resolved address, selecting, based on the resolved address, through which of the point-to-point connections the message should be sent; and sending the message through the selected connection.

Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of routing a message to one of a plurality of available processing systems, comprising the steps of detecting the presence of a destination identifier in the message, and where the presence of the destination identifier is detected, forwarding the message to the processing system identified thereby. Where the presence of the destination field is not detected the steps of determining a destination processing system for processing the message, inserting into the message a destination identifier identifying the determined destination processing system, and forwarding the message to the determined processing system may be performed.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of outing a message, conveyed in stream through a point-to-point connection to a load-balancing element, to one of a plurality of available processing systems each connected to the load-balancing eilement by separate point-to-point connections, io comprising at the load-balancing element: extracting the message from the stream; detecting in the extracted message the presence of an identifier identifying one of the available processing systems; and where the presence of the identifier is detected, forwarding the message to the processing system identified thereby via the appropriate connection; otherwise determining a destination processing system for processing the message; inserting into the message an identifier identifying the determined destination processing system; and forwarding the message to the processing system via the appropriate connection.

Abstract: A method of providing a routing key interpreter for a signalling gateway, the method comprising the steps of generating an input file comprising a plurality of input impressions and a plurality of routing keys corresponding to the input expressions, wherein the input expressions comprise signalling message parameters, supplying the input file to a lexical analyser generator to generate a lexical analyser, and providing the routing key interpreter using the lexical analyser, wherein the step of generating an input file comprises specifying a numerical range for a signalling message parameter, generating a logical expression corresponding to the numerical range, and including the logical range corresponding to the numerical range in the input file.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of outing a message, conveyed in stream through a point-to-point connection to a load-balancing element, to one of a plurality of available processing systems each connected to the load-balancing element by separate point-to-point connections, io comprising at the load-balancing element: extracting the message from the stream; detecting in the extracted message the presence of an identifier identifying one of the available processing systems; and where the presence of the identifier is detected, forwarding the message to the processing system identified thereby via the appropriate connection; otherwise determining a destination processing system for processing the message; inserting into the message an identifier identifying the determined destination processing system; and forwarding the message to the processing system via the appropriate connection.

Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of routing a message to one of a plurality of available processing systems, comprising the steps of detecting the presence of a destination identifier in the message, and where the presence of the destination identifier is detected, forwarding the message to the processing system identified thereby. Where the presence of the destination field is not detected the steps of determining a destination processing system for processing the message, inserting into the message a destination identifier identifying the determined destination processing system, and forwarding the message to the determined processing system may be performed.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sending, from a processing system, a message to a destination identified in the message, the destination being one, of a plurality of destinations, the message being sent via an intermediate module, each of the processing system and the destinations being connected to the intermediate module by individual point-to-point connections, comprising: resolving the address,-. of the destination identified in the message; sending the message and the resolved address across the connection to the intermediate module; and at the intermediate module, receiving the message and resolved address, selecting, based on the resolved address, through which of the point-to-point connections the message should be sent; and sending the message through the selected connection.

Abstract: A method is described for controlling a signalling gateway interconnecting a signalling network with a plurality of remote processes in one or more second processing entities, said method comprising the step of determining a remote process as a hash function of global title information contained within a signalling message. In preferred embodiments, the hash function is a CRC-32c cyclic redundancy check function.