Patent ID: 7870600

Claim:
A network adapter, comprising: a first shared medium port connectable to a shared services medium; a second shared medium port connected to the first shared medium port, connectable to a piggybacked network adapter, and configured to communicate between the first shared medium port and the piggybacked network adapter; an adapter controller connected to the first shared medium port and to the second shared medium port, and configured to communicate configuration information with the piggybacked network adapter, wherein the shared services medium is a powerline shared services medium, wherein the adapter controller is configured to provide a selected S3M security management service to a second adapter connected to one of the first shared medium port and the second shared medium port; a direct coupling including the first shared medium port connected with the second shared medium port, wherein the direct coupling is responsive to the adapter controller; and a passthrough coupling including a first passthrough port connected with a second passthrough port; wherein the passthrough coupling is not responsive to the adapter controller, and wherein one of the first and second passthrough port is connectable to the piggybacked network adapter and the other of the first and second passthrough port is connectable to the powerline shared services medium.