METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A MECHANICAL MEANS TO SUPPORT CARD SLOTS CAPABLE OF ACCEPTING CARDS OF MULTIPLE FORM FACTORS

1 . A reconfigurable chassis comprising:

one or more first card slots capable of being populated with a first mechanical form factor card,

one or more second card slots capable of being populated with the first mechanical form factor card or with a second mechanical form factor card, and

a mechanical slot adaptor configured to occupy at least one second card slot, wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to provide mechanical support for the second mechanical form factor card in the second card slot.

2 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein each of the first and second card slots comprise card guides configured to position cards and the mechanical slot adaptors that are inserted into the first and second card slots.

3 . The chassis of claim 2 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprises at least one of a top alignment runner and a bottom alignment runner configured to guide the mechanical slot adaptor into the card guides.

4 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein at least one of the chassis and mechanical slot adaptor is configured to secure the mechanical slot adaptor to the chassis when the mechanical slot adaptor is inserted into the chassis.

5 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprise at least one mechanical tab with securement slots that allow mechanical screws to be used to secure the mechanical slot adaptor to threaded holes on the chassis.

6 . The chassis of claim 5 ,

wherein the mechanical tab comprises at least one alignment pin configured to align the mechanical slot adaptor to the chassis.

7 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to occupy one or more of the second card slots.

8 . The chassis of claim 5 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to hold at least two of the second mechanical form factor cards for each of the second card slots it occupies.

9 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the one or more second card slots comprise a first set of second card slots and a second set of second card slots.

10 . The chassis of claim 9 ,

wherein no mechanical slot adaptor is placed in the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.

11 . The chassis of claim 9 ,

wherein a mechanical slot adaptor is placed in at least one slot of the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.

12 . The chassis of claim 11 ,

wherein switch cards are placed in at least one of the mechanical slot adaptors in at least one of the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.

13 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the chassis comprises a backplane configured to receive at least one of the first and second mechanical form factor cards.

14 . The chassis of claim 13 ,

wherein the removable mechanical slot adaptor comprises a rear opening to allow connectors on the backplane to make electrical contact with corresponding electrical connectors on the received second mechanical form factor cards.

15 . The chassis of claim 13 ,

wherein the backplane comprises a first connector to connect to the first mechanical form factor card and a second connector to connect to the second mechanical form factor card.

16 . The chassis of claim 15 ,

wherein the second connector is off-set from the first connector to allow insertion of cards into the first connector and the second connector.

17 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the cards of the second mechanical form factor are narrower than the cards of the first mechanical form factor.

18 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor has both a top rigid support wall and a bottom rigid support wall, and both the top and bottom rigid support walls extend from a front of the mechanical slot adaptor to a rear of the mechanical slot adaptor.

19 . The chassis of claim 18 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to receive a first of the second mechanical form factor cards placed directly above a second of the second mechanical form factor cards received by the mechanical slot adaptor.

20 . The chassis of claim 19 ,

wherein, within the mechanical slot adaptor, a rigid intermediate support wall is located between the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor, and wherein the rigid intermediate support wall extends from the front of the mechanical slot adaptor to the rear of the mechanical slot adaptor.

21 . The chassis of claim 20 ,

wherein the rigid intermediate support wall comprises ventilation holes.

22 . The chassis of claim 19 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprises card guides for both the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor.

23 . The chassis of claim 18 ,

wherein at least one of the both the top and bottom rigid support walls comprises ventilation holes.

24 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor has both a left rigid support wall and a right rigid support wall, and wherein both the left and right rigid support walls extend from a top of the slot adaptor to a bottom of the slot adaptor, and comprise cut-out sections.

25 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the mechanical slot adaptor contains at least one mechanical fastening mechanism for each card plugged in the adaptor.

26 . The chassis of claim 25 ,

wherein the mechanical fastening mechanism comprises a screw and threaded tab, wherein the screw is screwed into a threaded tab on the mechanical slot adaptor to secure each card.

27 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein the chassis additionally contains a third plurality of card slots, the third plurality of card slots provide a means to house cards that are a fraction of the height of the cards of the first mechanical form factor, and no mechanical slot adaptor is used to house the cards of the third plurality of card slots.

28 . The chassis of claim 27 ,

wherein the cards of the second mechanical form factor are able to be placed in the third plurality of card slots.

29 . The chassis of claim 1 ,

wherein each card of the second mechanical form factor comprises a pull handle, used to remove the card from the chassis.