Patent ID: 8031731

Claim:
A system comprising: a plurality of processing units; a first network interface unit coupled to a first portion of the plurality of processing units; a second network interface unit coupled to a different portion of the plurality of processing units; and a link coupled between the first network interface unit and the second network interface unit; wherein each of the first network interface unit and the second network interface unit includes: an independently controllable network port for connection to a network, wherein the network port includes: a shared media access control (MAC) unit; a link interface configured to convey packets to the link between the first network interface unit and the second network interface unit; control logic selectably configured to route packets between processing units belonging to the first portion of the plurality of processing units and the network via the network port of the second network interface unit and the link; a virtual interface coupled to the network port, wherein the virtual interface includes a plurality of independent programmable virtual MAC units, each associated with a respective processing unit, and programmably configured by the respective processing unit.