Cross-bar switch with explicit multicast support

A cross-bar switch includes a set of input ports for receiving data packets and a set of sink ports for transmitting the received packets to identified targets. A set of data rings couples the input ports to the sink ports. Each sink port utilizes the set of data rings to accept data packets targeted to destinations supported by the sink port. The cross-bar switch includes a multi-sink port for supporting explicit multicast addressing. The multi-sink port is coupled to each data ring and each sink port. The multi-sink port snoops multicast packets on the cross-bar switch's rings and transfers each packet to a set of sink ports that support the packet's targeted destinations.