Patent ID: 7620064

Claim:
An apparatus to allow a first computer and a second computer to share a network interface controller, the apparatus comprising: a shared I/O switch; a shared Ethernet network interface controller, wherein in lieu of including an Ethernet controller within each of the first computer and the second computer, each of the first computer and the second computer are coupled to share the Ethernet network interface controller in order to communicate on a network using an Ethernet protocol; a first link coupling the first computer to said shared I/O switch; a second link coupling the second computer to said shared I/O switch; a third link coupling said shared I/O switch to the Ethernet network interface controller, said third link utilizing a serial load/store fabric to pass packets originating from both the first computer and the second computer to the Ethernet network interface controller, wherein packets conveyed via said third link include header information which associates each of said packets with either the first computer or the second computer; and an interface for the Ethernet network interface controller which examines said packets, including said header information, and selects resources for said packets based on said association.