Reducing inter-packet gaps in packet-based input/output communications

[0020]An interconnect device, such as a switch 20 shown in FIG. 1A includes an interface 25 operably coupled to an interconnect logic 30 capable of establishing a packet-based data input / output (I / O) communication according to one embodiment of the present invention. The interface 25 may receive an inbound packet 35a within the packet-based I / O data communication over an I / O data link 45a. The switch 20 may selectively route the inbound packet 35a as an outbound packet 35b over another I / O data link 45b based on a packet attribute associated with the inbound packet 35a. Using the I / O data links 45a, 45b, the switch 20 may connect one or more end node devices, such as processor-based devices and I / O devices, forming a network in some embodiments. Examples of the end node devices include single chip processor-based devices or Internet adapters and host computers, such as data servers in application processing and enterprise computing environments.

[0021]In operation, using t