US Patent 7356636 Virtualized PCI switch

A PCI-Express interconnect device is provided. The device comprises: first and second upstream ports; first and second downstream ports; and a management entity. The management entity is operable to logically partition the device such that the first upstream port is operable to communicate with the first downstream port and the second upstream port is operable to communicate with the second downstream port. In one example, the management device is additionally operable to migrate the first downstream port from a partition in which the first downstream port is operable to communicate with the first upstream port into a partition in which the first downstream port is operable to communicate with the second upstream port.