1. A method comprising: broadcasting data units of packets to a plurality of finite state machine (FSM) comparison units, each of the FSM comparison units implementing a portion of a signature; comparing the data units of the packets to a plurality of signatures, including each FSM comparison unit of the plurality of FSM comparison units independently comparing one of the data units to its associated portion of one signature; and combining results of the plurality of FSM comparison units independently processing the data units using a logic combinatorial circuit.