US Patent 7616653 Network interface card aggregation framework

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a network interface card (NIC) aggregation framework, including a plurality of providers each configured to publish at least one port, a MAC client configured to send a packet to the at least one port, and a media access control (MAC) service module configured to map the at least one port to one of the plurality of providers, wherein the MAC service module comprises a client interface configured to interface with the MAC client and a provider interface configured to interface with each of the plurality of providers.