Abstract: A switch fabric is provided which comprises a shared memory, a number of switch fabric ports, and a switch fabric data controller. The switch fabric data controller routes blocks of data received at one switch fabric port to one or more other switch fabric ports and writes and reads data to and from, respectively, the shared memory. The switch fabric data controller preferentially routes a block of data from the one switch fabric port to the one or more other switch fabric ports without writing the block of data into the shared memory if the one or more other desired switch fabric ports are free or become free within a predetermined period, and otherwise writes the block of data into the shared memory for temporary storage if the one or more other switch fabric ports are busy. In this manner, the switch fabric facilitates "cut-through" of blocks of data across a switch without the need to write the blocks of data to a shared memory, thereby reducing latency.