1. A method of calculating parity segments comprising: providing a parity calculation module configured to calculate one or more parity segments, the parity calculation module being embodied as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC); with the ASIC: receiving one or more data segments that are to be used to calculate one or more parity segments; receiving one or more parity coefficients that are to be used to calculate the one or more parity segments, wherein: the one or more parity coefficients are chosen from a plurality of coefficient subsets; and each said coefficient subset is classified based on a respective parity operation into one of a plurality of groups; operating on the one or more data segments and the one or more parity coefficients to provide an intermediate computation result; writing the intermediate computation result to one or more local buffers on the ASIC; and using the intermediate computation result from the one or more local buffers to calculate one or more parity segments.