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US 8,897,294 B2Granted
Interface switch for use with fibre channel fabrics in storage area networks
AssigneeBrocade Communications Systems, Inc.
InventorMichael W. Atkinson
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBrocade Communications Systems, Inc.
InventorMichael W. Atkinson
Estimating the term…
An interface switch which presents itself as switch to an enterprise fabric formed of the devices from the same manufacturer as the interface switch and that of a host or node to an enterprise fabric from a different manufacturer. This allows each enterprise fabric to remain in a higher performance operating mode. The multiplexing of multiple streams of traffic between the N_ports on the first enterprise fabric and the second enterprise fabric is accomplished by N_port Virtualization. The interface switch can be connected to multiple enterprise fabrics. All control traffic address mappings between virtual and physical addresses may be mediated and translated by the CPU of the interface switch and address mappings for data traffic performed at wire speed. Since the interface switch may preferably be a single conduit between the enterprise fabrics, it is also a good point to enforce perimeter defenses against attacks.
A Fibre Channel switch for connecting to a first fabric formed using switches conforming to the protocols of a first manufacturer and a second fabric formed using switches conforming to the protocols of a second manufacturer, each fabric having at least one node connected, the switch comprising:
A network comprising:
A Fibre Channel switch comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.