In an embodiment of the invention, an apparatus comprises: a plurality of bus masters and a plurality of bus arbiters to support routing and failover, wherein each bus arbiter is coupled to a plurality of bus masters; and a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to at least one of the bus arbiters; wherein the CPU is configured to execute a firmware that chooses bus re-routing or failover in response to a bus failure. In another embodiment of the invention, a method comprises: choosing, by a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to a plurality of bus arbiters, bus re-routing or failover in response to a bus failure. In yet another embodiment of the invention, an article of manufacture, comprises a non-transient computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that permit a method comprising: choosing, by a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to a plurality of bus arbiters, bus re-routing or failover in response to a bus failure.