Abstract: According to one embodiment, a method may include receiving a frame via an ingress port of a network element. The method may also include assigning a virtual destination address to the frame of the traffic. The method may further include internally switching the frame within the network element based on the virtual destination address. The method may additionally include modifying the virtual destination address one or more times such that the virtual destination address is translated to an actual destination address identifying an actual egress port of the network element. Moreover, the method may include routing the frame to an egress port of the network element based on the actual destination address.