Patent ID: 7054310
Filing Date: 2006-05-30
Classification: H04J

Abstract:
1. A system comprising: a first card coupled to a first network compatible with a first data format, the first card being configured to convert data from the first data format to a synchronous optical network (SONET/SDH) format, and vice versa; a second card coupled to a second network compatible with a second data format, the second card being configured to convert data in the second data format to the SONET/SDH format, and vice versa; a cross-connect card configured to perform switching functions on data in the SONET/SDH format; and a backplane communicatively connecting the first card, second card, and cross-connect card, the backplane being configured to use a common signaling scheme to carry data in the SONET/SDH format as one or more serial data signals between the first card, the cross-connect card, and the second card, wherein the cross-connect card includes a first and second application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), each of the first and second ASICs being configured to perform parallel-to-serial conversion and serial-to-parallel conversion on data in the SONET/SDH format, the first ASIC is configured to perform serial-to-parallel conversion on the data in the SONET/SDH format, the data being received from the first card via the backplane, the second ASIC is configured to perform parallel-to-serial conversion on the data in the SONET/SDH format, thereby making the data suitable for transmission to the second card via the backplane, and the cross-connect card further comprises a third ASIC configured to perform the switching functions on the data converted by the first ASIC, the switched data being sent to the second ASIC for conversion.