Patent ID: 7242578

Claim:
An N/2 slot switch module, comprising: a switch card; a plurality of switches coupled to the switch card; and a reconfiguring means connected to and integral to the switch card, wherein the reconfiguring means reconfigures the N/2 slot switch module into one of a left-hand slot switch configuration and a right-hand slot switch configuration, and wherein the N/2 slot switch module is coupled to interface with a bladed architecture, backplane-based network having N payload slots; wherein, when the N/2 slot switch module is configured in the left-hand switch configuration, the N/2 slot switch module can be coupled only to a left-hand set of the N payload slots, and wherein, when the N/2 slot switch module is configured in the right-hand slot switch configuration, the N/2 slot switch module can be coupled only to a right-hand set of the N payload slots.