A telecommunications switching apparatus (10) includes optical paths (16-19) coupled to interface cards (26-29), which in turn are coupled to a switching circuit (41-42). The switching circuit is coupled to a plurality of universal connectors (71-74), each of which is coupled to an auxiliary connector (77-78). The universal connectors can each removably receive any one of several types of switching circuit cards (101-104), which each utilize a respective one of several different communication protocols. An auxiliary circuit card (107-108) may be provided in the associated auxiliary connector, in order to support switching circuit cards that use certain communication protocols. The optically transmitted information includes segments formatted according to respective communication protocols, and is converted from optical to electrical form by the interface cards. The switching circuit then routes each segment to a respective universal connector containing a switching circuit card that effects switching according to the communication protocol of that segment.