Patent ID: 8433770

Claim:
A data transfer method, comprising: receiving an Input/output (I/O) request at a data storage interface accessible by an operating system in a computer system; assigning a unique identifier to said I/O request; storing said I/O request in a common stack on a RAID controller card, wherein the common stack includes both local and remote networked I/O requests; determining whether said I/O request is a local or a remote networked I/O request based on said unique identifier; transferring data between an application and at least one of a local storage element and a remote networked storage element, as a function of said unique identifier, using the same data storage interface; wherein the common stack on the RAID controller provides a single data storage interface that virtually combines the local storage element and the remote networked storage element; and wherein the single data storage interface renders the local storage element and the remote networked storage element invisible to the operating system and an end user.