COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR PACKET SWITCHING SYSTEMS

A method of communicating data frames between nodes in a network comprised of one or more end system nodes where each end system node has a unidirectional ingress port and a unidirectional egress port. The method comprises transmitting a data frame from an egress port of one end system node to the ingress port of another end system node, the receiving end system node then determining whether it is the final destination for the data frame. If the receiving end system node is the final destination of the data frame, the receiving end system node absorbs the message. If not, the receiving end system node buffers and then retransmits the data frame through its own egress port. The method provides scalability, low cost, distributed pipeline scheduling, maximum complexity of the network fabric, and maximum speed.