Transpose box based network scaling

A method of increasing the size of a data transmission network, comprising:

• determining an additional number of network devices to add to a data transmission network, the data transmission network including at least a first tier and a second tier of network devices each capable of receiving and transmitting data, the network devices of the first tier being connected to a first group of network connectors of a network transpose box and the network devices of the second tier being connected to a second group of network connectors of the network transpose box, at least a portion of the first group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the second group of network connectors using a meshing of communication media, at least a portion of the second group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the first group of network connectors using the meshing, the meshing of communication media implementing a selected network topology for connecting the network devices of the first and second tiers, each of the first tier of network devices connected to one of the first group of network connectors using a single network cable and each of the second tier of network devices connected to one of the second group of network connectors using a single network cable,
• determining an additional number of network connectors for each of the first and second group of network connectors needed to support the additional number of network devices using the network topology;
• and
• replacing the network transpose box with a different transpose box having at least the additional number of network connectors for each of the first and second group of network connectors,
• wherein each of the additional network devices is able to be added to the network using a single cable connection to the network transpose box, and
• wherein each previously connected device can be connected to any other previous network device and any additional network device according to the network topology using a single cable connection from the previously-connected device to the network transpose box.

A method of increasing the size of a data transmission network, comprising:

• determining an additional number of network devices to add to a data transmission network, the data transmission network including at least a first tier and a second tier of network devices each capable of receiving and transmitting data, the network devices of the first tier being connected to a first group of network connectors of a first network transpose box and the network devices of the second tier being connected to a second group of network connectors of the first network transpose box, at least a portion of the first group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the second group of network connectors using a meshing of communication media, at least a portion of the second group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the first group of network connectors using the meshing, the meshing of communication media implementing a selected network topology for connecting the network devices of the first and second tiers, each of the first tier of network devices connected to one of the first group of network connectors using a single network cable and each of the second tier of network devices connected to one of the second group of network connectors using a single network cable,
• determining an additional number of network connectors for each of the first and second group of network connectors needed to support the additional number of network devices using the network topology;
• adding at least a second network transpose box having at least the additional number of network connectors for each of the first and second group of network connectors;
• and
• connecting the first network transpose box and the at least second network transpose box in order to connect the devices according to the selected network topology,
• wherein each of the additional network devices is able to be added to the network using a single cable connection to the at least second network transpose box, and
• wherein each previously connected device can be connected to any other previous network device and any additional network device according to the network topology using a single cable connection from the previously-connected device to the first network transpose box.

A method of providing scalability in a data transmission network, comprising:

• providing at least a first tier and a second tier of network devices, each network device capable of receiving and transmitting data;
• and
• connecting the network devices of the first tier to a first group of network connectors of a first network transpose box and a first group of network connectors of a second network transpose box;
• connecting the network devices of the second tier to a second group of network connectors of the first network transpose box and a second group of network connectors of the second network transpose box, at least a portion of the first group of network connectors in each of the first and second network transpose boxes each being connected to two or more of the second group of network connectors within the same network transpose box using a meshing of communication media, at least a portion of the second group of network connectors in each of the first and second network transpose boxes each being connected to two or more of the first group of network connectors in the same network transpose box using the meshing, the meshing of communication media implementing a selected network topology in each network transpose box for connecting the network devices of the first and second tiers,
• wherein each of the first tier of network devices is connected to one of the first group of network connectors of the first network transpose box using a single network cable and one of the first group of network connectors of the second network transpose box using a single network cable,
• wherein each of the second tier of network devices is connected to one of the second group of network connectors of the first network transpose box using a single network cable and one of the second group of network connectors of the second network transpose box using a single network cable, the connections to the first and second transpose boxes providing a redundant connection for each of the network devices, and
• wherein an additional network device is able to be added to the data transmission network by moving one of the redundant connections to the second network transpose box to connect to the additional network device without having to move any of the other already-connected network cables.

A method of changing the topology of a data transmission network, comprising:

• determining a current network topology of a data transmission network, the data transmission network including at least a first tier and a second tier of network devices each capable of receiving and transmitting data, the network devices of the first tier being connected to a first group of network connectors of a network transpose box and the network devices of the second tier being connected to a second group of network connectors of the network transpose box, at least a portion of the first group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the second group of network connectors using a meshing of communication media, at least a portion of the second group of network connectors each being connected to two or more of the first group of network connectors using the meshing, the meshing of communication media implementing the current network topology for connecting the network devices of the first and second tiers, each of the first tier of network devices connected to one of the first group of network connectors using a single network cable and each of the second tier of network devices connected to one of the second group of network connectors using a single network cable,
• determining a new network topology for the data transmission network;
• and
• replacing the network transpose box with a different transpose box having a meshing for implementing the new network topology,
• wherein the new topology is able to be implemented in the network using a single cable connected between each network device and the new network transpose box, each previously connected device being connected to any other previous network device according to the new network topology by the meshing of the network transpose box.