NETWORK SYSTEM HAVING AN INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE FOR PERFORMING PACKET PROCESSING AND OPTIMIZING THE PACKET PROCESSING

A method, apparatus, and system in which a network system has one or more individual networks. The topology of the first individual network includes two or more service modules. At least one of the service modules is modeled to represent a network element that performs one or more functions to process a packet in a network system. The two or more service modules may be arranged in the first individual network in an arbitrary topology. The packet processing by the two or more service modules is governed by the topology of the first individual network.