Peter:

Take a look at the Texas Instruments TPS2363 part. http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod...s2363.html

It is the part we use all the time to support hot swapping of PCIe boards in server systems that we design. You access and control this part via an SMBus connection. External FETs are directly driven by the controller to switch the power on and off. This permits part selection and cost to be tailored to the type/size of load that you are switching.

As far as switching the SMBus to the load side I would suggest that you look at an appropriate bus switch type part from a company such as Pericom. You can easily control the bus switch from a signal on the TPS2363.

Lastly I would look very carefully at getting rid of the connection via some type of discrete wire cable. This is just not reliable enough to ensure good pin sequencing during mating and un-mating operations. Find a way to support sliding the module into place in a slide manner and then use a formal hot plug mating connector pair or setup your module with gold fingers and then use an edge card type connector at the back of module slot.

Michael Karas