Patent ID: 7984227

Claim:
A switch device comprising: a first interface to be coupled to a host computer via network; a plurality of first virtual volumes and a plurality of second virtual volumes provided for the host computer; a second interface to be coupled to a plurality of storage systems including data volumes for storing data; and a processor coupled to the first interface and the second interface, wherein the processor receives, through the first interface, a first instruction for accessing data stored in one of the data volumes from the host computer and sends a third instruction to one of the plurality of first virtual volumes, wherein the processor receives, through the first interface, a second instruction controlling a function of one of the plurality of storage systems from the host computer and sends the second instruction to one of the plurality of second virtual volumes for controlling a function of the one of the plurality of second volumes, wherein said first instruction including a virtual volume identifier identifying a virtual volume, identifies at least one of the data volumes corresponding to the virtual volume specified by the virtual volume identifier, and sends, through the second interface, the third instruction to at least one of the data volumes being included in at least one of the plurality of storage systems, wherein the function is a snapshot function or mirror function, wherein the host computer sends the first instruction as an Input/Output (I/O) command to one of the first virtual volumes and sends the second instruction as an I/O command to one of the second virtual volumes, and wherein the third instruction is based on a protocol for a storage system which is a destination of the third instruction.