Patent ID: 8412875

Claim:
A network system that is part of a main system, the network system comprising: an internal network that resides in the network system; a first PCI express-network bridge which includes a first control unit and a first PCI express adapter which terminates a first PCI express bus; and a second PCI express-network bridge connected to the first PCI express-network bridge through said internal network, wherein the second PCI express-network bridge includes a second control unit and a second PCI express adapter which terminates a second PCI express bus, wherein said internal network, said first PCI express-network bridge, and said second PCI express-network bridge constitute a single PCI express switch, wherein the first control unit detects a destination of a packet sent from the first PCI express adapter, searches a packet encapsulating table for a physical address that corresponds to the destination, and encapsulates the packet in a frame so that the frame includes the physical address, wherein the second control unit removes the encapsulation tagged to the packet, and transfers the packet to the destination through the second PCI express bus by referring to a PCI express configuration register, and wherein the PCI express configuration register complies with a PCI express specification, whereby a configuration read/write packet is accessed, so that the main system regards said single PCI express switch as a conventional PCI express switch.