Patent ID: 7386626

Claim:
An interconnection controller, comprising: an intra-cluster interface configured for coupling with intra-cluster links to a plurality of local nodes arranged in a point-to-point architecture in a local cluster, the local nodes including local processors; an inter-cluster interface configured for coupling with an inter-cluster link to a non-local interconnection controller in a non-local cluster; encapsulation logic configured to receive intra-cluster packets from the local nodes via the intra-cluster links and to encapsulate the intra-cluster packets as inter-cluster packets for transmission on the inter-cluster link; and a module comprising a remote transmission buffer, the module configured to: receive inter-cluster packets from the encapsulation logic; store inter-cluster packets in the remote transmission buffer; forward inter-cluster packets for transmission on the inter-cluster link; determine when the remote transmission buffer is empty; generate a special packet for transmission on the inter-cluster link when the buffer is empty; and forward the special packet for transmission on the inter-cluster link without storing the special packet in the remote transmission buffer.