Abstract: A method and apparatus which obviates the throughput limitations retries generated by busy conditions of conventional switches which are limited to but a single path between any two ports through the use of a “hunt group” concept whereby multiple paths can be provided between a participating group member and another port. These multiple paths may be associated in groups of, for example, eight, with each grouping of eight paths then comprising a “hunt group” whereby the first available member of the hunt group will be selected to enable the connection should the first be “busy”. The particular embodiment disclosed comprises a plurality of sequentially organized hunt groups starting on a boundary of eight associated with ports 0-7, 8-15, . . . through 248-255.

Abstract: A switch having a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports and a crossbar device programmably coupling a first of the I/O ports with a second of the I/O ports. A plurality of port request controllers (PRCs) are coupled such that each PRC is associated with one of the I/O ports. A plurality of serial request busses are arranged such that each serial request bus couples each PRC with its associated port. A plurality of serial response busses are coupled such that each serial response bus coupling each PRC with its associated PRC. In operation, the serial request and response busses operate independently in a non-blocking fashion to process connection and clear requests in parallel.