Methods and apparatus related to a shared memory buffer for variable-sized cells

A method, comprising:

• receiving at a set of registers a segment including bit values from a portion of a cell;
• determining whether a memory bank from a set of memory banks is a write destination of the segment when the segment is a leading segment of the cell, the set of memory banks defining at least a portion of a cut-through buffer;
• and
• shifting the segment from a first position within the set of registers to a second position within the set of registers when a status of a write port of the memory bank is an unavailable status.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a multi-stage switch fabric configured to route a set of variable-sized cells having bit-wise widths within a range of bit-wise widths;
• a shared memory buffer within a stage of the multi-stage switch fabric, the shared memory buffer having a set of memory banks;
• and
• a control module configured to trigger distribution of a set of segments including bit values from the set of variable-sized cells to the set of memory banks, each segment from the set of segments having a bit-wise width less than a minimum bit-wise width from the range of bit-wise widths associated with the variable-sized cells.