Multi-service switch for a telecommunications network

An interface card for providing access to a premises network, comprising:

• an outside communication interface operable to transmit telecommunications information to and receive telecommunications information from an entity outside the premises network;
• a premises communication interface operable to transmit telecommunications information to and receive telecommunications information from a system bus interconnecting a plurality of entities on the premises network;
• and
• an interface module control coupled to the outside communication interface and to the premises communication interface, the interface module control operable to perform distributed switching to communicate telecommunications information on the system bus, wherein the interface module control is further operable to receive telecommunications information from the outside communication interface in a first format, to interwork between the first format of the telecommunications information and a plurality of bus overlay data formats, and to provide the telecommunications information in one of the plurality of bus overlay data formats to the premises communication interface for transmission on the system bus, wherein the first format of the telecommunications information comprises an asynchronous transfer mode cell, the interface module control having shared access to the system bus with other interface module controls.