Patent ID: 7161948

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 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; and a plurality of lookup tables, said lookup tables including an address resolution lookup table, a VLAN table and module port table; wherein said network switch has a unique module identifier, and wherein one of said first data port interface and said second data port interface is configured to determine forwarding information from a header for an incoming data packet received at a port of said one of said first data port interface and said second data port interface, and is configured to determine the forwarding information from the header and to determine a destination module identifier for a destination port for the data packet from the module port table.