Patent ID: 7155494

Claim:
A method for transferring information, comprising: operating a first network comprising first-network-stations under an Ethernet protocol; operating a second network comprising second-network-stations under a Fibre Channel (FC) protocol; grouping the first-network-stations into one or more virtual local area networks (VLANs), each of the VLANs comprising one or more of the first-network-stations which transfer a respective VLAN-data-frame within the VLAN; grouping the second-network-stations into one or more FC zones, each of the zones comprising one or more of the second-network-stations which transfer a respective zone-data-frame within the zone; coupling the first and the second networks together using a gateway to convey data between the networks; configuring the gateway with a primary association mapping a primary VLAN chosen from the VLANs and a primary zone chosen from the zones, the primary VLAN transferring a primary VLAN-data-frame comprising primary-data, comprised in the data, therein, and the primary zone transferring a primary zone-data-frame comprising the primary-data therein; and translating in the gateway between the primary VLAN-data-frame and the primary zone-data-frame, responsive to the primary association, so as to convey the primary-data between the primary VLAN and the primary zone via the gateway.