Patent ID: 7009968

Claim:
A network switch for network communications, said network switch comprising: a first data port interface, said first data port interface supporting at least one data port transmitting and receiving data at a first data rate; a second data port interface, said second data port interface supporting at least one data port transmitting and receiving data at a second data rate; a CPU interface, said CPU interface configured to communicate with a CPU; a memory management unit for communicating data from at least one of said first data port interface and said second data port interface and a memory; a communication channel, said communication channel for communicating data and messaging information between said first data port interface, said second data port interface, and said memory management unit; a plurality of lookup tables, said lookup tables including an address resolution lookup table, a layer three IP lookup table and VLAN tables, wherein one of said first data port interface and said second data port interface is configured to determine whether an incoming data packet is a unicast packet, a multicast packet or an IP multicast packet; and to search the address resolution lookup and layer three IP lookup tables to find an egress port for said incoming data packet.