Abstract: A system and method of transferring cells through a router includes writing one or more of the plurality of cells, including a first cell, of a packet from an ingress stream of an ingress writer to a central buffer, storing a packet identifier entry in the first egress reader scoreboard in each of the plurality of egress readers, the packet identifier entry including a packet identifier, a valid bit, a hit bit and a write cell count, wherein the valid bit is configured to indicate that the packet identifier entry is valid, the hit bit is configured to indicate that no cells in the packet have been read from the central buffer and the write cell count equals the number of cells in the packet written to the central buffer, and reading the packet from the central buffer as a function of the packet identifier entry.