Node with combined optical and electrical switching

Abstract

A Multi-Chip Module (MCM) includes a substrate and a switch controller on the substrate. An optical module on the substrate includes at least one optical crosspoint switch for selectively routing optical signals received by the optical module out of the MCM without the MCM converting the optical signals into electrical signals for processing data from the optical signals by the switch controller. According to another aspect, at least one memory on the substrate is electrically connected to the switch controller by a parallel bus. In another aspect, the MCM includes a plurality of input optical paths for receiving optical signals from outside the MCM, a plurality of output optical paths for transmitting optical signals from the MCM, and a plurality of optical crosspoint switches each connecting an input optical path to an output optical path to selectively route optical signals.