1. For use in a router, a routing table search circuit for determining a first destination address for a first received data packet comprising: a forwarding table comprising a plurality of forwarding table entries, each of said forwarding table entries comprising a destination address; a content addressable memory (CAM) comprising a CAM lookup table, said CAM capable of receiving a search key and outputting a CAM search result corresponding to said search key from said CAM lookup table, wherein said search key comprises at least: 1) a packet type field associated with said first received data packet and 2) an address field containing a most significant bits portion of a first received address associated with said first received data packet; and M pipelined memory stages for storing a trie table capable of translating header information said first received data packet into said first destination address, wherein said M pipelined memory stages are searched using said CAM search result and a remaining bits portion of said first received address, wherein each of said M pipelined memory stages outputs a stage search result.