In one embodiment, a photonic switching fabric includes a first stage including a plurality of first switches and a second stage including a plurality of second switches, where the second stage is optically coupled to the first stage. The photonic switching fabric also includes a third stage including a plurality of third switches, where the third stage is optically coupled to the second stage, where the photonic switching fabric is configured to receive a packet having a destination address, where the destination address includes a group destination address, and where the second stage is configured to be connected in accordance with the group destination address.