Patent ID: 7898984

Claim:
An arrangement in a network device for facilitating multiple connection speeds with a network, the arrangement comprising: a set of network ports, said set of network ports including a set of input network ports for receiving data traffic and a set of output network ports for outputting said data traffic from said network device, said set of input network ports and said set of output network ports including a first network port and a second network port, said first network port being configured to receive a signal, said signal including data packets and power packets, said second network port being configured to received said signal from said first network port; a tap structure, said tap structure being configured to couple to said first network port and said second network port to receive said data packets, whereas data traffic is configured to traverse said network device between said set of input network ports and said set of output network ports irrespective whether power is provided to circuitry of said network device, wherein a first center tap, connected to a first transformer that is associated with said first network port, is coupled to a second center tap, connected to second transformer that is associated with said second network port, to create a bridge between said first transformer and said second transformer, said bridge being a bypass route to transfer said power packets between said first network port and said second network port; a monitoring port, said monitoring port being configured to receive aggregated data traffic from said set of network ports, said aggregated data traffic being aggregated by an aggregator; a plurality of physical layer interface (PHY), each PHY of said plurality of PHY being configured to support said multiple connection speeds, wherein a first PHY of said plurality of PHY is configured to include a first logic for performing link setup, said link setup including determining the best speed said network device is capable of supporting; and a media access controller (MAC), said MAC being configured to support said multiple connection speeds, whereas said data traffic is configured to traverse said network device between said set of input network ports and said set of output network ports irrespective whether power is provided to circuitry of said network device.