A hub for a fiber channel arbitrated loop is disclosed. The hub comprises a switching device including a matrix of switches connected by a plurality of signal lines, each signal line being electrically connected to at least one switch. The hub is operable to selectively connect and disconnect one signal line from at least one other signal line, at least some of the signal lines being operatively connectable to respective devices comprising the fiber-channel arbitrated loop. The switching device is operatively configurable to selectively open and close the switches to arrange the devices on the fiber-channel arbitrated loop.