We describe the characteristics of all-optical switching schemes based on semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), with particular emphasis on the role of the fast carrier dynamics. The SOA response to a single short pulse as well as to a data-modulated pulse train is investigated and the properties of schemes relying on cross-gain as well as cross-phase modulation are discussed. The possible benefits of using SOAs with quantum dot active regions are theoretically analyzed. The bandfilling characteristics and the presence of fast capture processes may allow to reach bitrates in excess of 100 Gb/s even for simple cross-gain modulation schemes.