Level 3 Communications, LLC

Austin D Ritchie

Pete Joseph Caputo, Ii

Travis Duane Ewert

Harold Wayne Teets

Alan Wade Prehmus

Brett E Dwyer

Scott Hemmann

Wen Wang

Jin-Gen Wang

Michael Nyhus

Michael E Feldpusch

Aspects of the disclosure involve systems and methods for utilizing Virtual Local Area Network separation in a connection, which may be a single connection, between a customer to a telecommunications network and a cloud environment to allow the customer to access multiple instances within the cloud through the connection. A customer may purchase multiple cloud resource instances from a public cloud environment and, utilizing the telecommunications network, connect to the multiple instances through a communication port or connection to the cloud environment. To utilize the single connection or port, communication packets intended for the cloud environment may be tagged with a VLAN tag that indicates to which cloud instance the packet is intended. The telecommunications network may route the packet to the intended cloud environment and configure one or more aspects of the cloud environment to analyze the attached VLAN tag to transmit the packet to the intended instance.

Connecting to multiple cloud instances in a telecommunications network

A system and method for providing on-demand edge compute. The system may include an orchestrator that provides a UI and controls an abstraction layer for implementing a workflow for providing on-demand edge compute. The abstraction layer may include a network configuration orchestration (NCO) system (e.g., a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) system) and an API that may provide an interface between the orchestrator and the NCO. The API may enable the orchestrator to communicate with the NCO for receiving requests that enable the NCO to integrate with existing network controllers, orchestrators, and other systems and perform various network provisioning tasks (e.g., to build and provision a communication path between server instances). The various tasks, when executed, may provide end-to-end automated network provisioning services as part of providing on-demand edge compute service to users. The API may further enable the ECS orchestrator to receive information from the NCO, (e.g., network resource information, status messages).

Systems and methods for automated network configurations with a network as a service (NaaS) system

A network interface system defines standardized network service requests and related abstracted tasks. In examples, commands needed to configure particular network elements are dependent on the network being utilized and/or the network element(s) being utilized. The network interface system may include a standardization layer, an abstraction layer, and an application programming interface for each of a variety of available networks. Upon a request for a network service, the related abstracted tasks may be translated into network-specific commands to configure network elements of disparate networks to provide the requested service.

Multi-network management system and method

A system and method for providing on-demand edge compute. The system may include an orchestrator that provides a UI and that controls an abstraction layer for implementing a workflow for providing on-demand edge compute. The abstraction layer may include a server configuration orchestration (SCO) system (e.g., a Metal-as-a-Service (MaaS) system) and API that may provide an interface between the orchestrator and the SCO. The API may enable the orchestrator to communicate with the SCO for receiving requests that enable the SCO to integrate with existing compute resources to perform various compute provisioning tasks (e.g., to build and provision a server instance). The various tasks, when executed, may provide on-demand edge compute service to users. The SCO API may further enable the ECS orchestrator to receive information from the SCO (e.g., compute resource information, status messages).

Customer activation on edge computing environment

A dynamic controller to automatically generate layer 3 network connections between devices and/or networks associated with a virtual computing environment in response to a request for such connections is provided such that communications associated with the computing environment may be transmitted between the endpoints. For example, the dynamic controller may connect one or more cloud service provider networks, one or more customer-controlled data centers, one or more customer networks, and the like, based on information provided in a connection request. A layer 3 communication controller may also be instantiated within a core network that manages the flow of communications between the connected networks, such as by translating messages between the connected networks so that messages intended for a connected network may match the supported communication protocols of that network and/or providing one or more security features to the transmitted communications.

Systems and methods for dynamic layer 3 network connection

Embodiments are disclosed that provision a cloud-based service together with a dedicated network connection to provision a cloud-based service element. In response to the request both the cloud-based service element and a dedicated network connection are provisioned. Provisioning the cloud-based service element together with the dedicated network connection enables the cloud-based service element to utilize the dedicated network connection.

Provisioning dedicated network resources with API services

Systems and methods for dynamic layer 3 network connections

A method for transmitting data over networks includes associating Customer Edge Virtual Local Area Network (CE-VLAN) identifiers with an Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC). Each of the CE-VLAN identifiers is assigned to a respective Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) of a cloud computing environment and the EVC extends between a first network and the cloud computing environment through a second network. The EVC is also configured to transmit packets including any of the CE-VLAN identifiers to the cloud computing environment. The method further includes transmitting a packet received from the first network and including one of the CE-VLAN identifiers to the cloud computing environment using the EVC.

Dynamic customer VLAN identifiers in a telecommunications network

Methods and systems for facilitating communication between two or more autonomous system instances include the instantiation of a bridge between the autonomous system (AS) instances. The bridge includes multiple virtual routers each of which is connected using a Layer 2 and a Layer 3 connection to a respective one of the AS instances. For example, each router may be connected to a respective AS instance by each of a virtual local area network (VLAN) connection and a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) session. To facilitate the BGP session, the bridge may be assigned an AS number (ASN) different than that of each of the AS instances and that is exchanged between the routers and the AS instances. Routing within the bridge may be facilitated by the exchange of interior gateway protocol (IGP) information between the virtual routers.

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Parker, CO, United States of America

Austin D Ritchie