A method of forwarding a series of data packets in a data flow in a network, wherein the data packets having N predetermined parameters where N 1 and ranges of values of the N parameters defining an N-dimensional parameter space, and wherein the data flow is one selected from a series of aggregated data flows, the method comprising: defining at least one parameter-based rule applicable to the series of aggregated data flows in the N-dimensional space; applying the or each rule to the aggregated data flows so as to define a series of non-overlapping N-dimensional hyper-cubes in the N-dimensional space, each containing at least one data flow from the aggregated data flows; determining discrete values of the N parameters for the data flow containing the series of related packets, defining a point in the N-dimensional space; and forwarding the related packets in accordance with the rule applicable in the hyper-cube in which the point is located.
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