Switch with transparent and non-transparent ports

A process for switching data units, the process comprising

• providing a switch having transparent and non-transparent ports
• associating the transparent ports with a shared address domain
• associating the non-transparent ports with non-shared address domains
• routing data units between the transparent ports, between the transparent and non-transparent ports, and between the non-transparent ports using at least one of memory-mapped I/O and IO-mapped I/O.

A PCI Express switch with transparent and non-transparent ports comprising

• a first transparent port for interfacing to a first device having a first address in a first shared address domain
• a second transparent port for interfacing to a second device having a second address in the first shared address domain
• a third port for interfacing to a third device having a third address in a second address domain, wherein the second address domain is isolated from the first address domain
• logic for routing data units between the first transparent port, the second transparent port and the third port in accordance with a PCI Express interconnect standard.

A method for switching data units, the method comprising

• providing a PCI Express switch having transparent and non-transparent ports
• associating the transparent ports with a shared address domain
• associating the non-transparent ports with non-shared address domains
• routing data units between the transparent ports, between the transparent and non-transparent ports, and between the non-transparent ports in accordance with a PCI Express interconnect standard.