Patent ID: 7602794

Claim:
A network device comprising: at least two control processors running different protocol stacks; at least one forwarding processor communicatively coupled to the at least two control processors; at least one ingress interface for connecting the network device to a network; a packet handler interposed between the at least one forwarding processor and the at least one ingress interface, said packet handler being constructed and arranged to receive a packet from the ingress interface, determine if it is bound for one of the at least two control processors, and, if so, direct it to the one of the at least two control processors; and a virtual interface interposed between the at least two control processors and the ingress interface, said virtual interface being constructed and arranged to receive a packet from the ingress interface, determine if it is compatible with an operating system running on the one of the at least two control processors, and, if necessary, convert it to a compatible format for the operating system.