Switch fabric with memory management unit for improved flow control

A method of manufacturing an apparatus, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of ports, each port comprising an input and an output;
• providing a switch fabric, the switch fabric comprising a bus ring, the bus ring comprising one bus for each port, each bus originating at the output of one port and terminating at the input of a port which is a neighbor of the port from which the bus originates, the switch fabric being configured to broadcast received packets to each of the plurality of ports;
• and
• connecting each of the plurality of ports to one of a plurality of memory management units associated with the respective port, each of the memory management units being configured to determine whether to store the received packets.

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of port means, each port means comprising an input means and an output means;
• switching means for switching packets from the plurality of port means, the switching means comprising bus means for connecting to the switching means in a ring configuration and for providing communication of packets, the switching means being configured to broadcast received packets to each of the plurality of ports;
• and
• a plurality of memory management means for managing the packets from the bus means, the plurality of memory management means comprising one memory management means associated with each of the plurality of port means, each memory management means coupled to its associated port means and configured to determine whether to store the received packets.