A novel switch architecture maintains the sequence of packet cells, received at one port of a multicast port group, during subsequent transfer of the cells to the remaining ports of the group. The novel architecture includes a 2-stage buffering arrangement whereby the first stage comprises a plurality of local buffers, each associated with a port of the switch, and the second stage comprises a single, global buffer. Each local buffer services its associated port of the multicast port group by temporarily storing incoming packet cells until a complete packet is received at that port, at which time the packet cells may be passed to the global buffer as outgoing cells. The global buffer services the remaining ports of the multicast port group by forwarding copies of the outgoing cells, in sequence, to those ports.