Patent ID: 8139574

Claim:
A method implemented in hardware in a first network switch for switching Data Link frames, wherein said first network switch is used for interconnecting network nodes in a network, said method comprising: (a) receiving information required to identify at least one next hop node of a first Data Link frame, wherein said information is received from a second network node in a first PCI Express memory transaction, wherein said information and said first Data Link frame are transmitted separately by said second network node, wherein said first PCI Express memory transaction does not contain said first Data Link frame, wherein a next hop node of said first Data Link frame is a third network node to which said first Data Link frame is to be transmitted by said first network switch; (b) identifying said third network node before receiving said first Data Link frame by using said information required to identify at least one next hop node of said first Data Link frame, wherein said first Data Link frame is not used for identifying said third network node; (c) receiving said first Data Link frame from said second network node after identifying said third network node to which said first Data Link frame is to be transmitted; and (d) transmitting said first Data Link frame to said third network node.