METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A MULTIPROTOCOL SWITCHING HUB

摘要

The invention relates to a communications network for transferring data between end stations (5, 6, 7) coupled to the network. The data is transferred in the form of data packets generated in accordance with either a first or a second transfer protocol. Each data packet also inlcudes a destination address indicating the end station to which the data is to be transferred. The network has a number of ports (2) for coupling to respective end stations, and a number of switching nodes (4) for interconnecting the number of ports (2). The switching nodes are adapted to determine the destination address of each data packet and transfer the data packet to the respective port (2).