Mcdata Corporation

William J Mitchem

Jeffrey J Nelson

John Retta

Shared memory provides buffering and switching for all frames that flow through a fiber channel switch. Received frames are written to shared memory by the receiving port then read from shared memory by the transmitting port. Shared memory provides for data to be written to a buffer at one rate, and read from a buffer at a different rate, or vice versa.

Multi-rate shared memory architecture for frame storage and switching

A central route table design in a fiber channel switch for providing one location for D_ID and exit port combinations. The fiber channel switch has a plurality of ports, each are coupled to the central route look-up table.

Compact, shared route lookup table for a fiber channel switch

A route caching design in a fiber channel switch for providing quick access to recently used D_ID and exit port combinations. The fiber channel switch has a plurality of ports, each are coupled to a central route look-up table. A cache is coupled to each port for storing D_ID to exit port association information received from the central route look-up table.

Growing community of inventors

Lafayette, CO, United States of America

William J Mitchem