1. A packet switching node having a pipelined packet processing architecture for processing packets received via a plurality of packet switching node source ports, the packet switching node comprising: a. means a packet header field value extractor for selectively extracting packet header field values from the plurality of packet header field values conveyed by each packet based on one of the source port via which the packet was received and a previously determined packet frame type; b. means for ascribing a match type to the packet, the match type preclassifying the packet based on the extracted packet header field values irrespective of the format of the packet frame; c. means for searching one of packet switching information, packet routing information, and protocol virtual local area networking information tracked by the packet switching node based on one of extracted packet header field values, the match type, and the source port for formulating a preliminary switch response for the packet; and d. a packet classifier for classifying the packet into one of a plurality of packet processing flows based on one of the source port identifier, the preliminary switch response, extracted packet header field values, and the match type.