Top Ten Approaching Crosspoint Switches By Andrew Pedler Switch fabrics are the building blocks in almost all telecommunication systems.
Designers can choose from a range of switch architectures and products.
Crossbar switches allow designers to construct complete switching networks within their networking equipment designs. Since crosspoint switches have become an integral part of the design process, designers must have a detailed understanding of these switching architectures. Closing the switch at the appropriate crosspoint in the matrix creates a connection between an input and an output, similar to electro-mechanical crosspoint switches of the past. There are two basic methods for implementing crossbar-switching arrays in semiconductor devices. Some custom ASICs and standard products rely on an N-way multiplexer at each output port to select data from the input ports.