Patent ID: 7139269

Claim:
A network switch for network communications, said network switch comprising: a first data port interface, said first data port interface supporting at least one data port transmitting and receiving data; a second data port interface, said second data port interface supporting at least one data port transmitting and receiving data; a memory communicating with said first data port interface and said second data port interface; a memory management unit, said memory management unit for communicating data from said first data port interface and said second data port interface and said memory; and a communication channel, with the communication channel communicating data and messaging information between said first data port interface, said second data port interface, and said memory management unit, wherein said second data port interface is configured to form a simplex interconnection with other network switches and is configured to resolve a module ID from a header of an incoming data packet and forwards the incoming data packet over the simplex interconnection based on the resolved module ID.