Patent ID: 8842677

Claim:
A method for routing input/output (IO) data in a telecommunication system, the system comprising a network node comprising a plurality of first integrated circuit (IC) cards, a plurality of second IC cards and a switching fabric, each IC card of the plurality of second IC cards connected directly to an IC card of the plurality of first IC cards, each IC card of the plurality of first IC cards connected in a respective slot of the network node, the method comprising: receiving the IO data at an external port of any of the plurality of first or second IC cards; when packets of the IO data are received at an external port of any of the plurality of second IC cards: upon receipt of the packets by a given one of the plurality of second IC cards, the given one of the plurality of second IC cards performing a packet classification of the packets to at least in part determine a destination for the packets; delivering the packets to one of the plurality of first or second IC cards identified as a destination according to the packet classification performed by the given one of the plurality of second IC cards via a logical network layer existing on the plurality of first and second IC cards and the switching fabric, wherein the logical network layer includes a network device on each IC card of the plurality of first and second IC cards configured to perform packet classification and deliver the packets of the IO data to a destination.