Future broadband networks will need to support transmission and switching at rates ranging from hundreds of Gbits/s to a Tbits/s or more. A feasible approach in the realization of such networks is the use of sets of parallel links or channels which are termed trunk groups or channel groups. In this paper, we examine an optimal bandwidth allocation scheme for multichanne1 systems to switch trunk groups. This new multichannel switching system features a simple architecture, high throughput, high channel utilization, and other properties such as preserving packet sequence, being robust to unbalanced input traffic loads, providing fair access to network transmission resources, and fast packet processing via a pipeline structure. Numerical results show that the multichannel system can achieve a throughput of 91% per channel for a trunk group of 32 channels while also providing very low average cell delay performance in the presence of correlated inputs.