Patent ID: 8369321

Claim:
A system, comprising: a chassis having a first portion and a second portion, the first portion defining a plurality of horizontal slots, the second portion defining a plurality of vertical slots; a first plurality of line cards disposed within the plurality of horizontal slots, each line card from the first plurality of line cards having a plurality of ports, each line card from the first plurality of line cards having a depth substantially similar to a depth of the chassis; and a second plurality of line cards disposed within the plurality of vertical slots, each line card from the second plurality of line cards having a plurality of ports, each port from the plurality of ports of a line card from the first plurality of line cards being operatively coupled to a different line card from the second plurality of line cards when the system is in a first configuration, a first set of ports from the plurality of ports of the line card from the first plurality of line cards being operatively coupled to a first line card from the second plurality of line cards and a second set of ports from the plurality of ports of the line card from the first plurality of line cards being operatively coupled to a second line card from the second plurality of line cards when the system is in a second configuration, the first set of ports and the second set of ports being mutually exclusive.