received data stream each gl_port may have an optical electric converter designated as oe0 oe19 connected with its serdes through serial lines for providing fibre optic input output connections as is well known in the high performance switch design the converters connect to switch channels c0 c19 it is noteworthy that the ports can connect through copper paths or other means instead of optical electric converters fig1 d shows a block diagram of asic 20 with sixteen gl ports and four 10 g gigabyte port control modules designated as xg0 xg3 for four 10 g ports designated as xgp0 xgp3 asic 20 include a control port 62 a that is coupled to iop 66 through a pci connection 66 a the iop 66 performs operations using information stored in a system memory 72 a licensing table 73 that contains port licensing information is also part of the system memory 72 fig1 e shows a block diagram of a networking system using a network switch 71 according to one aspect of the present invention switch 71 can be an ethernet or a fibre channel switch depending on the type of environment networking switch 71 includes multiple i o ports 70 and is coupled to iop 66 though pci bus 66 a although a pci bus is used in.