Patent ID: 7423964

Claim:
A method to set the speed of a network, comprising the steps of: supplying a network interconnected with a system controller and a plurality of switch domains, wherein each of said plurality of switch domains comprises one or more information storage devices and a switch domain controller; setting by each of said plurality of switch domains a signaling rate for that switch domain; querying in-band by said system controller each of said plurality of switch domains for that switch domain's signaling rate; disconnecting by the switch domain processor disposed in each switch domain that switch domain from the network; determining by the switch domain processor disposed in each switch domain a signaling rate for that switch domain; reconnecting by the switch domain processor disposed in each switch domain that switch domain to the network; providing in-band by each of said plurality of switch domains the signaling rate for that switch domain; providing in-band by said system controller to each of said plurality of switch domains a first speed selection command specifying a first network speed; resetting by each of said plurality of switch domains the signaling rate for that switch domain to said first network speed.