Patent ID: 7801117

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a switch core, a plurality of Fibre Channel ports having multiple link speeds including a first link speed and a second link speed, each Fibre Channel port comprises port control logic situated between the Fibre Channel port and the switch core, route determination logic coupled to said switch core and said Fibre Channel port control logic, the route determination logic comprising a state machine, the state machine configured to analyze the link speeds of the plurality of Fibre Channel ports, wherein the state machine has a plurality of modes of operation including: a first mode of operation in which the state machine is idle and monitors for signals, a second mode of operation, responsive to detecting a signal indicating a route request was generated from one or more port control logic modules, a third mode of operation, responsive to decoding the results of a route determination logic block, and a fourth mode of operation, invoked when the second link speed is greater than the first link speed, responsive to a signal to create a route, asserts signals to build a route response back to the port control logic, one of the signals capable of indicating to the port control to wait until the entire frame is received, and a fifth mode of operation, invoked when the second link speed is less than or equal to the first link speed, responsive to a signal to begin sending the frame prior to receipt of the entire frame, wherein the switch core has a fixed width.