An interface to a daughter board includes a carrier card, a board interface connector residing on the carrier card operable to couple the daughter board to the carrier card, and a control message bus coupled between the carrier card and the daughter board. Further, the interface includes an on board controller residing on the carrier card which is in communication with the daughter board by receiving and transmitting control messages transported on the control message bus. The interface also includes a data bus adapted for transporting data between the carrier card and the daughter board, and a data bus interface coupled to the on board controller operable to transport a plurality of channels of telecommunications data to the daughter board via the data bus under the control of the on board controller.
