Patent ID: 8073966

Claim:
A system comprising: a first computing device having a network device included therein, the first computing device coupled to a first network and the network device coupled to a second network, a second computing device coupled to the first network, the second computing device including software which when executed causes the second computing device to perform operations comprising establishing a communication channel with the first computing device over the first network creating a virtual interface to mirror the network device included in the first computing device such that the virtual interface of the second computing device is configured to: receive via the communication channel over the first network incoming data units directed over the second network to the network device of the first computing device, forward outgoing data units to the network device of the first computing device via the communication channel over the first network, including specifying that the outgoing data units are to be transmitted by the network device using at least one of a plurality of additional capabilities of the network device not available via the second computing device.