An port expander Fiber Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fiber Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fiber Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The port expander may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fiber Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the port expander and "event storms" on the Fiber Channel fabric are avoided. The port expander presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port.