Patent ID: 8140719

Claim:
A dis-aggregated compute/switch/storage chassis comprising: a plurality of node cards; a plurality of slots having sockets for receiving the plurality of node cards; a direct interconnect fabric having wiring traces that connect to the plurality of node cards through the plurality of slots; processing nodes on a first subset of the plurality of node cards, the processing nodes each having multiple processors for executing programs and for generating requests to access peripherals; storage nodes on a second subset of the plurality of node cards, the storage nodes each for connecting to storage media; Input-Output I/O nodes on a third subset of the plurality of node cards, the I/O nodes each having a network interface controller (NIC) for connecting to a local-area network (LAN) link; wherein the first subset of the plurality of node cards is non-overlapping with the second subset and with the third subset of the plurality of node cards; and a direct interconnect switch on each of the plurality of node cards, for connecting through the direct interconnect fabric to other direct interconnect switches on other node cards.