Abstract: An arriving cell is admitted when a flow occupancy level is less than a flow minimum threshold. When the flow occupancy level is not less than the flow minimum threshold, a drop probability based on per-class thresholds is applied to determine if the arriving is to be rejected. When the arriving cell is not to be rejected after applying the drop probability based on the per-class thresholds, a drop probability based on per-flow thresholds is applied.

Abstract: An ingress is coupled with the switch fabric to send flows of data across the switch fabric. Each of the flows of data is associated with a flow identification information and a priority level. An egress is coupled with the switch fabric to receive the flows of data from the ingress. The egress is configured to send one or more flow control messages to the ingress to control a pace that the ingress sends the flows of data to the egress. Each of the flow control messages includes one or more of a flow identification information, an egress space availability information and a new priority level for a flow.