Across-device communication protocol

1. A method for communicating data between network devices, said method comprising:

sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network devices, where said port is in communication with other network devices of said network devices; and

sending a data frame over said port;

wherein the transmission signal and the data frame are sent for a fixed byte time period and at least one idle pattern is included with the data frame when a time required to send all data present is less than the fixed byte time period.

2. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , further comprising sending a transmission clock over said port wherein the transmission clock is used to determine when the fixed byte time period has elapsed.

3. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 1024 byte time period.

4. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 512 byte time period.

5. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 2048 byte time period.

6. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , wherein an effective bandwidth across the network devices is 1 Gigabit per second.

7. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 1 , wherein the step of sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network devices comprises sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network devices through a Gigabit media independent interface and the step of sending a data frame over said port comprises sending a data frame over said port through a Gigabit media independent interface.

8. The method for communicating data between network devices according to claim 7 , wherein the step of sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network devices comprises sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network devices through a SerDes module that takes a signal from the Gigabit media independent interface and transfers the signal into a differential pair signal and the step of sending a data frame over said port comprises sending a data frame over said port through a SerDes module that takes a signal from the Gigabit media independent interface and transfers the signal into a differential pair signal.

9. A network device capable of communicating data between other network devices, said network device comprising:

first sending means for sending a transmission signal over a port of one of said network device, where said port is in communication with the other network devices; and

second sending means for sending a data frame over said port;

wherein the first sending means and the second sending means are configured to send the transmission signal and the data frame for a fixed byte time period and the second sending means is configured to include at least one idle pattern with the data frame when a time required to send all data present is less than the fixed byte time period.

10. The network device according to claim 9 , further comprising third sending means for sending a transmission clock over said port wherein the means for sending a transmission signal and the means for sending a data frame are configured to use the transmission clock to determine when the fixed byte time period has elapsed.

11. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 1024 byte time period.

12. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 512 byte time period.

13. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the fixed byte time period is a 2048 byte time period.

14. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the network device is configured such that an effective bandwidth across the network devices is approximately 1 Gigabit per second.

15. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the first and second sending means are configured to send the transmission signal and data frame through a Gigabit media independent interface.

16. The network device according to claim 15 , wherein the first and second sending means are configured to send the transmission signal and data frame through a SerDes module that takes a signal from the Gigabit media independent interface and transfers the signal into a differential pair signal.

17. A network device capable of communicating data between other network devices, said network device comprising:

at least one data port interface, supporting at least one data port transmitting and receiving data;

at least one media access controller in communication with the at least one data port interface; and

a SerDes module, that receives a signal from the at least one media access controller and transfers the signal into a differential pair signal;

wherein the at least one media access controller is configured to employ a Gigabit media independent interface and the at least one media access controller and the SerDes module are configured to send a data frame for a fixed byte time period, where the data frame may include at least one idle pattern when a time required to send all data present is less than the fixed byte time period.

18. The network device according to claim 17 , wherein said at least one data port interface comprises a first set of data port interfaces and a second data port interfaces, where the first and second sets of data port interfaces support transmitting and receiving data at different rates.

19. The network device according to claim 17 , wherein said SerDes module includes four channels, with each of said four channels receiving a digital signal and transferring the digital signal into a differential pair signal.

20. The network device according to claim 17 , further comprising at least one of a packet buffer, an address management module and a serial management module.