Importance

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Abstract

A fiber channel, interconnecting a plurality of disk drive loops and associated high speed bypass switches, has a selected group of high speed bypass switches to modularize the fiber channel and to reduce electrical signal jitter on the channel. More particularly, the fiber channel loop has a first group of bypass switches being connected to either connect an associated disk drive to the loop or to electrically isolate the loop from the associated disk drive, and a second group of the bypass switches is then connected, in a first operating state, to connect a group of disk drives and their respective associated bypass switches for electrical signal communications with disk drive controller, and in a second operating state, for electrically isolating the group of disk drives and their respective associated bypass switches from communications with the controller. The disk drives and their associated bypass switches can be modularly added to the fiber channel configuration by employing the second group of bypass switches as high speed controllable gateways.

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First Claim