Abstract: An emulation system is provided for emulating a hardware architecture. The system includes a system board. The system board includes a host processor, a switching circuit, and a system controller. The switching circuit is bidirectionally coupled to the host processor. The system controller is coupled to the switching circuit. The system controller is configured to receive a slot ID from one of a plurality of slots on a backplane of a chassis, and in response to the slot ID, the system controller configures the switching circuit to connect the host processor to communicate with a plurality of board devices either through the backplane or directly as a stand-alone emulation system board, thus allowing the system board to function in a chassis with other boards or to function as a standalone board.