A new scheduling algorithm that concatenates data blocks to increase switching throughput is proposed. The algorithm controls the degree of concatenation and reduces the number of switching Instances to improve switch utilization. The switch architecture uses a virtual output queue switching architecture where the core switch fabric is an optical matrix switch. The optical matrix switch requires the guard-time overhead needed for optical switch control. By reducing the number of switching instances, guard-time overhead can be reduced and switch utilization can be improved. Computer simulations show that efficiency is dramatically increased and that fairness in terms of data throughput among output ports is achieved.