Patent ID: 9369407
Filing Date: 2016-06-14
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method of connecting switches in a data network, comprising: providing a plurality of deployment units each comprising a respective plurality of tiers of switches, each switch of a lower-level tier of a given deployment unit being connected to each switch of a higher-level tier of the given deployment unit; determining connections between a first deployment unit of the plurality of deployment units and a second deployment unit of the plurality of deployment units, an egress switch of the first deployment unit being connected to an edge switch of the second deployment unit; removing the egress switch from the first deployment unit; setting the edge switch of the second deployment unit to function as the egress switch of the first deployment unit and as the edge switch of the second deployment unit; and connecting the edge switch to each switch of the lower-level tier of the first deployment unit.