Patent ID: 7406038

Claim:
Switch fabric system comprising a first chassis for receiving a plurality of line cards each having a plurality of ports and at least two switch fabric cards wherein each line card comprises a plurality of link ports for linking the line card with the switch fabric card and each switch fabric card provides a switching bandwidth and wherein the system comprises a management unit for managing the traffic on the switch fabric cards wherein the management unit removes the traffic from one switch fabric card if the one switch fabric card is to be removed from the first chassis during operation while the other switch fabric card operates and transfers the traffic from the removed switch fabric card to the other switch fabric card in the first chassis and wherein: the system further comprises a second chassis wherein the switch fabric card of the first chassis is linkable with a respective switch fabric card of the second chassis; and a switch fabric card comprises a plurality of configurable port switches, wherein in a first mode a port switch comprises m independent switches each switching n link ports and in a second mode the port switch comprises a m/2 switch switching 2n link ports, further wherein each of m and n are positive integers.