Patent ID: 8249064

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a plurality of first ports configured to (i) receive first frames of data into the apparatus, and (ii) transmit second frames of the data from the apparatus, wherein each of the plurality of first ports comprises a respective port ingress circuit, wherein the port ingress circuits are configured to insert, into each of the first frames of the data received by the respective one of the first ports, source information identifying the respective one of the first ports; a second port configured to (i) transmit the first frames of the data from the apparatus to a switch without transmitting destination information identifying a port of the apparatus, and (ii) receive the second frames of the data into the apparatus from the switch, wherein each of the second frames of the data, when received by the second port, comprises destination information identifying one or more of the first ports from which the second frames of the data are transmitted from the apparatus; and a controller configured to (i) transfer each of the first frames of the data from the first ports to the second port, and (ii) transfer each of the second frames of the data from the second port to one or more of the first ports according to the destination information in the second frames of the data, wherein each of the first ports further comprises a respective port egress circuit, and wherein the port egress circuits are configured to remove the destination information from the second frames of the data prior to the first ports transmitting respective ones of the second frames of the data from the apparatus.