Apparatus and method for buffering data in a switch

A method of operating switch, comprising:

• receiving, by a queue point controller of a queue point of the switch, at least a portion of a packet from a transmission point;
• storing, by the queue point controller, the portion of the packet in a queue buffer associated with a queue of the queue point;
• determining, by the queue point controller, available space in the queue buffer;
• allocating, by the queue point controller, based on a threshold value of the available space in the queue buffer, at least a portion of a shared buffer to the queue, wherein the shared buffer is associated with one or more additional queues of the queue point;
• and
• sending, by the queue point controller, a signal to the transmission point to prevent the transmission point from decrementing a credit counter associated with the queue or to cause the transmission point to increment the credit counter associated with the queue.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions cause a queue point controller of a queue point of a switch, in response to execution by the queue point controller, to:

• receive at least a portion of a packet from a transmission point;
• store the portion of the packet in a queue buffer associated with a queue of the queue point;
• allocate, based on a threshold value of an amount of available space in the queue buffer, at least a portion of a shared buffer to the queue, wherein the shared buffer is associated with one or more additional queues of the queue point;
• and
• send a signal to the transmission point to prevent the transmission point from decrementing a credit counter associated with the queue or to cause the transmission point to increment the credit counter associated with the queue.