In accordance with at least one embodiment, credit-based flow control for high-speed interfaces is provided. Decoupling (separation) of high speed interface reference clocks from the interface data rates is enabled. Such decoupling allows consolidation of reference clocks used for high speed interfaces, thereby enabling one reference clock to be used for multiple interfaces having different data rates. It also results in reduced buffer resource (memory) requirements, and reduced system latency. In redundant systems it also simplifies the direct vs. spare selection mechanism.