Abstract:
In one embodiment, a network switch includes multiple chips communicably coupled together and a buffered crossbar. Each chip is coupled to every other chip with two bi-directional serial channels and includes a slice of the buffered crossbar. One or more input ports, one or more output ports, and an input logic module are coupled to the plurality of chips, and the input logic module is configured to receive a packet of data, allocate the packet of data into one or more data fragments, and distribute the packet of data to the buffered crossbar. An output logic module is coupled to the chips and configured to retrieve the packet of data from the buffered crossbar, reconstruct the packet of data from the data fragments according to a gather scheme, and transmit the packet of data.