Patent ID: 7370224

Claim:
A system for enabling redundancy in communication between a plurality of peripheral devices and a host, the peripheral devices and the host being connected through Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-Express) architecture in a data processing system, the host detecting and initializing the peripheral devices, the host enabling communication between the peripheral devices, the system comprising: a. a switch, the switch providing lanes for communication between the peripheral devices and the host, the switch comprising a reference clock; b. a redundant switch, the redundant switch providing redundant lanes for communication between the peripheral devices and the host, the redundant switch comprising a redundant reference clock; and c. switch-level exchanging means, the switch-level exchanging means enabling exchange of data packets between the peripheral devices and the host through an available switch, the available switch being either the switch or the redundant switch, the switch-level exchanging means enabling exchange of data packets through the redundant switch when the switch is not operational.