Patent ID: 6975590

Claim:
An enclosure services processor card arranged to selectively split a fibre-channel arbitrated-loop (FC-AL) of devices into two split loops, said card being adapted to plug into a backplane for a rack enclosure and including a first switch operatively connected to a hub for said FC-AL, said hub comprising a plurality of port bypass circuits, each port bypass circuit being connected to a pair of tracks which in use connect to a respective one of each of said devices comprising said fibre channel arbitrated loop, said hub further comprising second and third switches operatively controlled by said first switch, said second and third switches being disposed between respective port bypass circuits at which said loop is to be split so that in a first state said second and third switches connect said devices in a single loop and in a second state said second and third switches divide said devices into two split loops, said single loop of the first state having a first bandwidth, said two split loops of the second state having a second bandwidth, said second bandwidth being twice that of the first bandwidth.