Patent ID: 7634582

Claim:
A method for transferring data between a plurality of SANs (Storage Area Networks and/or Server Area Networks), comprising: coupling a first SAN to a second SAN via an optical burst-switched (OBS) network infrastructure; receiving data from the first SAN, said data configured according to a first SAN format; encapsulating the data into one or more OBS data bursts; transmitting the one or more OBS data bursts across the OBS network from the first SAN to the second SAN; and extracting the encapsulated data at the second SAN, wherein the OBS network comprises a photonic burst-switched (PBS) network, wherein coupling the first SAN to the second SAN via the (OBS) network infrastructure comprises co-locating a respective PBS edge node module at a respective SAN gateway for each of the first and second SANs such that collectively each SAN gateway and PBS edge node module provides an interface between a SAN and one or more interior PBS switching nodes of the PBS networking infrastructure.