The line cards 400 transfer and acquire data packets to and from the network via ports 215, using various protocols and standards, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay (FR), Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (FE), Gigabit Ethernet (GE), IEEE 802.1Q and IEEE 802.1D. FIG. 4 is a high-level partial schematic block diagram of a line card 400 that may be advantageously used with the present inve