Patent ID: 7079525

Claim:
A network switch having a hybrid switch architecture, comprising: at least two shared-memory switch fabrics, each shared-memory switch fabric being configured to store and retrieve packets; and at least two crossbar switch fabrics, each crossbar switch fabric including a plurality of ports for receiving packets from and transmitting packets to a plurality of network connections, wherein the plurality of ports for each crossbar switch fabric are unique to that crossbar switch fabric, and at least two channels, each of the channels coupled to one of the shared-memory switch fabrics such that each crossbar switch fabric is coupled to every shared-memory switch fabric, each crossbar switch fabric configured to couple any one of the ports to any one of the channels to distribute packets from one of the network connections to any one of the shared-memory switch fabrics and to re-collect packets from any one of the shared-memory switch fabrics to one of the network connections.