Patent ID: 8271673

Claim:
A method for processing a command to a sequential access target device (“SATD”) through a first router, comprising: receiving, at a first router, a SCSI command from a first host in a storage area network using a first protocol, wherein the first router is capable of communicating to the SATD using a second protocol that is different from the first protocol; determining, at the first router, if the command requires a transfer of data larger than a threshold size selected along with a trigger value so that data can be continuously written by the SATD once the threshold size is reached until all the data is written by the SATD; if the command requires the transfer of data larger than the threshold size, storing an amount of data corresponding to the command having at least the threshold size in one or more memory buffers of the first router before streaming the data from the first router to the SATD and streaming the data from the first router to the SATD, wherein said streaming begins before all the data is received by the first router; and if the command requires the transfer of data no larger than the threshold size, storing all of the data corresponding to the command in the one or more memory buffers of the first router as the memory buffers become available and before forwarding the data to the SATD.