Abstract: A collapsible skate rail is provided that includes a first bar having a first support and a second bar having a second support. The second bar is connected to the first bar by a hinge, and the first and second bar form together a two-piece bar. The hinge enables the two-piece bar to assume at least two positions. The first and second bars form an angle with the hinge at an apex in a folded position, and the first and second bars are linearly aligned in a extended position. The collapsible skate rail further includes an internal sleeve adapted to occupy a first internal space of the first bar adjacent to the hinge and a second internal space of the second bar adjacent to the hinge when the two-piece bar is in the extended position. A method of using a collapsible skate rail is provided.

Abstract: An adapter card for managing connections between clients and a network server off-loads the connection management burden from the server. The adapter card includes a memory with an embedded proxy application and a communication protocol stack, a processing unit for executing the application code, a network controller for interfacing with an internetwork, and a bus protocol bridge for interfacing with the internal bus of the network server. The proxy application receives client requests on behalf of the server over relatively slow and unreliable network connections, and submits the requests to the server over fast, reliable bus connections.