Patent ID: 8495194

Claim:
A method of connecting switches in a data center, comprising: providing a plurality of deployment units each comprising at least a first tier of switches and a second tier of switches, each of the first tier of switches capable of being connected to each of the second tier of switches within a deployment unit using only connections between tiers; providing a third tier of switches for connecting each of the plurality of deployment units to a network, the third tier including at least one third tier switch for each deployment unit to be directly connected to a third tier switch; and for each of the third tier switches, connecting the third tier switch to each of the first tier switches in a directly connecting deployment unit, each first tier switch having at least one additional connection available for connecting out of the deployment unit, wherein the third tier switches are able to communicate information to the first tier switches of a respective deployment unit without passing the information through a second tier switch of the respective deployment unit; and wherein the second tier of switches in one of the deployment units are dedicated to handling traffic within that deployment unit.