Patent ID: 7010620

Claim:
A network adapter capable of being used to interface to a network environment a data storage system input and output (I/O) controller, the data storage system I/O controller residing in a first network data storage system, the network environment being external to the network data storage system, the network adapter comprising: an interface capable of being used to couple the network adapter to the data storage system I/O controller via a backplane in the first data storage system, the interface comprising first and second data and control and management (control/management) interfaces, thereby enabling multiple processing elements within the data storage system I/O controller to interact with respectively connected elements within the network adapter; a switching system capable of being coupled to data exchanging devices in the network environment, the switching system being coupled to the data storage system I/O controller via the first data and control/management interface on the network adapter; port circuitry capable of being used to facilitate establishment of a link between the first network data storage system and a second network data storage system in the network environment, the second network data storage system being remote from the first network data storage system, the link, when established, facilitating establishment of a target device in the second network data storage system as a data mirroring device capable of comprising a mirror of data residing in a source device in the first network data storage system, said port circuitry being connected to the data storage system I/O controller via the second data and control/management interface on the network adapter; and wherein data is sent from a host computer through a second switching system in the network environment to the network adapter, which allows the data to be sent from the network adapter to the second network data storage system without passing through the second switching system.