Network device and method for switching, routing and/or gatewaying data

A method of providing a network for switching, routing, or gatewaying data among different subnetworks of a communication network, the method comprising:

• providing a central processing unit;
• providing one or more data ingress ports and one or more data egress ports configured to exchange data with a further network device of the communication network;
• providing a plurality of co-processors, wherein the plurality of co-processors comprises one or more frame normalization co-processors, one or more ingress queuing co-processors, one or more filtering and policing co-processors, one or more intermediate queuing co-processors, at least one gatewaying co-processor, one or more egress queuing co-processors, and at least one traffic shaping co-processor, a functionality of each of the plurality of co-processors is implemented in either a system-on-chip or a field-programmable gate array device;
• and
• providing a software-defined network (SDN) architecture configured to implement one or more data processing paths between at least one of the one or more data ingress ports and at least one of the one or more data egress ports, each of the one or more data processing paths routed through at least one of the plurality of co-processors in accordance with requirements of an electronic control unit (ECU), the architecture comprising the one or more data ingress ports, the one or more data egress ports, and the plurality of co-processors,
• wherein the one or more data processing paths are implemented in parallel or in pipeline between the at least one of the one or more data ingress ports and the at least one of the one or more data egress ports, the data processing paths are implemented by connecting or removing interconnections between the one or more data ingress ports, the plurality of co-processors, and the one or more data egress ports.