Patent ID: 7551549

Claim:
A switch, comprising: a switch core, wherein the switch core has a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs, wherein the switch core passes data received on the plurality of inputs to the plurality of outputs based on routing tags; and a plurality of line card managers operably coupled to the switch core and adapted to couple to a plurality of line card pairs, wherein each line card manager includes: an arbiter that couples to a first line card and a second line card of a line card pair, wherein each line card manager couples to a different line card pair, wherein each arbiter is operably coupled to a corresponding input of the plurality of inputs of the switch core, wherein the arbiter provides ingress data from one of the first and second line cards to the corresponding input to the switch core based on selection information; and a router operably coupled to a corresponding output of the plurality of outputs of the switch core, wherein the router couples to the first line card and the second line card, and wherein the router uses routing information included in the egress data from the corresponding output to determine to which among the following group the egress data is provided: the first line card, the second line card, and both the first and the second line cards.