[May 16, 2013] Extreme Networks Assigned Patent Tweet (Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) By Targeted News Service ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 16 -- Extreme Networks, Santa Clara, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,442,030) developed by Larry R. Dennison, Walpole, Mass., for a "software control plane for switches and routers." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A Provider Network Controller (PNC) addresses the challenges in building services across Next Generation Network (NGN) architectures and creates an abstraction layer as a bridge, or glue, between the network transport and applications running over it. The PNC is a multi-layer, multi-vendor dynamic control plane that implements service activation and Layer 0-2 management tools for multiple transport technologies including Carrier Ethernet, Provider Backbone Transport (PBT), Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Transport MPLS (T-MPLS), optical and integrated networking platforms. Decoupling transport controls and services from the network equipment simplifies service creation and provides options for carriers to choose best-in-class equipment that leverages the PNC to enable rapid creation and management of transports and services. The PNC provides Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) interfaces to abstract transport objects expressly designed to support both wholesale and retail services, and supports service offerings with varied bandwidth and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, thus achieving enterprise Ethernet economics." The patent application was filed on Feb. 29, 2008 (12/074,268). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=84,42,030.PN.&OS=PN/84,42,030&RS=PN/84,42,030 Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand. AM0516JA0516-877752 (c) 2013 Targeted News Service [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]