Virtualizing the I/O subsystems for large pools of servers, the 3Leaf Systems' V-8000 delivers mainframe-class availability and resiliency for commodity systems while dramatically reducing both capital and maintenance costs. The V-8000 delivers scalable I/O connectivity for servers residing in the 3Leaf Virtual Compute Environment (VCE). In addition to providing highly scalable and efficient I/O, the VCE architecture minimizes the cost of putting commodity servers into service by removing the need for local networking and storage.