Network interconnect crosspoint switching architecture and method

A network switching system, comprising:

• at least one input path that is configured to receive variable-sized packets;
• a crosspoint matrix communicatively coupled to the at least one input path, the crosspoint matrix configured to route said variable-sized packets received at one of a plurality of inputs of the crosspoint matrix to one of a plurality of outputs of the crosspoint matrix;
• and
• a scheduler communicatively coupled to the crosspoint matrix and which is configured to schedule said variable-sized packets that are routed through the crosspoint matrix,
• wherein the scheduler schedules a connection time for each variable-sized packet that excludes packet tails, and
• wherein the scheduler is configured to determine whether or not a length of a variable-sized packet provided to the crosspoint matrix via the at least one input path is greater than a predetermined byte value, wherein the received variable-sized packet is determined to be a short packet if the length is less than or equal to the predetermined byte value and is determined to be a long packet if the length is greater than the predetermined byte value, and
• wherein the scheduler schedules a short packet by a connection-oriented scheme which allocates a connection time based on the packet length ignoring any packet tail for passing the short packet through the crosspoint matrix, and
• wherein the scheduler schedules a long packet by a connection-oriented scheme which allocates a path across the crosspoint matrix that is deallocated upon receipt of a packet termination message sent from a flow control of the at least one input path that supplied the long packet to the crosspoint matrix.

A network switching system, comprising:

• a plurality of virtual switching devices each configured to communicatively connect one of a plurality of input transceiver devices to one of a plurality of output transceiver devices, each of said plurality of virtual switching devices being capable of operating in a first crosspoint switching mode that includes:
• a crosspoint matrix having a plurality of inputs for receiving variable-sized packets from the respective input transceiver devices and a plurality of outputs, and
• a plurality of output queues, each output queue coupled to all of the outputs of the crosspoint matrix and to an input of a corresponding one of the output transceiver devices, each output queue configured to simultaneously store overlapping portions of two or more variable-sized packets output from two or more outputs of the crosspoint matrix,
• wherein the plurality of virtual switching devices correspond to a single physical switching device and,
• wherein the output queues absorb collisions between variable-sized packets by simultaneously storing overlapping portions of two or more packets output by the crosspoint matrix, whereby variable-sized packets are transferred through the crosspoint matrix without being converted into fixed-length cells.