Patent ID: 7386010

Claim:
Apparatus for data communications, comprising: a hub, comprising a plurality of ports, which are configured to receive and transmit data frames in accordance with a packet-oriented Layer 2 communication protocol; and a plurality of edge devices, each such edge device comprising: at least one network port for communicating with the ports of the hub via a network in accordance with the packet-oriented Layer 2 communication protocol; one or more native interfaces, for communicating with client nodes in accordance with respective native Layer 2 protocols, at least one of which is different from the packet-oriented Layer 2 communication protocol; and a protocol converter, which is configured to convert the data frames received on the one or more native interfaces from at least a first format specified by the native Layer 2 protocols to a second format specified by the packet-oriented Layer 2 communication protocol, so as to transmit the data frames in the second format via the at least one network port, and to convert the data frames received on the at least one network port from the second format to at least the first format, so as to transmit the data frames in at least the first format via the one or more native interfaces, such that the edge devices are configured to direct the data frames received from two or more of the native interfaces to one of the ports of the hub, and to map the two or more of the native interfaces to different, respective Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) on the network, such that the at least one network port comprises an Ethernet port, and such that the one or more native interfaces comprise at least one of a time domain multiplexed (TDM) interface and a serial interface.