Patent ID: 9571421
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04Q

Claim:
1. A method of connecting switches in a data network, comprising: providing at least one upper level deployment unit and at least two lower level deployment units, each deployment unit comprising a first tier of switches and a second tier of switches, the first tier switches in a deployment unit being connected to each of the second tier switches in the deployment unit using only connections between tiers, each deployment unit capable of including a first number of first tier switches being fully connected to the second tier switches in the deployment unit; deploying only a second number of first tier switches in the lower level deployment units, the second number of first tier switches being less than the first number of first tier switches such that ports are available on the second tier switches in the lower level deployment units; and connecting each of the lower level deployment units to at least one first tier switch in at least one upper level deployment unit using one of the available ports from the second tier switches, wherein the connectivity between an upper deployment unit and a lower deployment unit is provided by a second tier switch of the lower deployment unit.