Patent ID: 8369347

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an Ethernet Switch Fabric (ESF); a first Converged Port Controller (CPC) comprising a first port, a second port, and a plurality of third ports, wherein at least some of the plurality of third ports are coupled to the ESF, and wherein the CPC is configured to: receive a first plurality of Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) frames on the first port and a plurality of Fiber Channel (FC) frames on the second port; modify the first plurality of FCoE frames to produce modified FCoE frames; encapsulate the plurality of FC frames into an Ethernet format to produce a second plurality of FCoE frames; transmit the modified FCoE frames and the second plurality of FCoE frames to the ESF on the third ports; and a second CPC coupled to the ESF and configured to: receive the modified FCoE frames and the second plurality of FCoE frames from the ESF; decapsulate the second plurality of FCoE frames to reproduce the plurality of FC frames; change the modified FCoE frames to produce a third plurality of FCoE frames; and transmit the plurality of FC frames and the third plurality of FCoE frames.