Abstract: A shared memory packet switch fabric whose scheduling task is distributed to multiple egress schedulers residing on multiple egress control units and whose data storage is distributed to multiple packet buffer units, where the schedulers and the packet buffer units are interconnected via high speed links. An ingress control unit receives and transmits a packet to one of a plurality of packet buffer units (PBUs) making up the switch fabric. The receiving PBU stores the packet in memory and transmits a notification message with the memory information to all interested egress control units. If an egress control unit receiving the notification has enough queue space, it stores the memory information in its queue. The egress control unit then transmits a booking message indicating that it is to request the packet in the future.

Abstract: A high speed healing ring having a plurality of nodes is provided. The high speed healing ring includes a first link that is capable of carrying a first data in a first optical signal, which has a first wavelength, from a first node to a second node. The ring network also has a second link that is capable of carrying the first data in a second optical signal, which also has the first wavelength, from the first node to the second node. At least one of said first and second optical signals passes through at least one other node between the first node and the second node. By providing redundancy in the ring network through physical layer interface using optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs), cost of the system may be reduced while providing a faster response time, as compared to systems based on Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) or Resilient Packet Ring (RPR).

Abstract: A shared memory packet switch fabric whose scheduling task is distributed to multiple egress schedulers residing on multiple egress control units and whose data storage is distributed to multiple packet buffer units, where the schedulers and the packet buffer units are interconnected via high speed links. An ingress control unit receives and transmits a packet to one of a plurality of packet buffer units (PBUs) making up the switch fabric. The receiving PBU stores the packet in memory and transmits a notification message with the memory information to all interested egress control units. If an egress control unit receiving the notification has enough queue space, it stores the memory information in its queue. The egress control unit then transmits a booking message indicating that it is to request the packet in the future.