Packed multi-level network (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600), comprising: a housing (115, 220, 315, 410, 505, 620) which is a network
chassis, presented in a cage; a plurality of network
layers (105, 110, 205, 210, 215, 305, 310, 605, 610) located in the
enclosure, wherein each
network layer comprises the same number of connected switches (120, 125, 225, 230, 235, 320, 325, 330, 335), each switch having the same number of ports and comprising application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); where switches within each
network layer are connected based on the same topology, and where the network
layers within the
enclosure are independent of each other and not interconnected; and a number of connectors (130, 131, 132, 133, 240, 241, 242, 243, 340, 341, 342, 343, 350, 351, 352, 353) mounted to the
enclosure, each connector being coupled to a corresponding port of a switch from each
network layer, the number of connectors being equal to the number of ports per switch multiplied by the number of network
layers in the enclosure, each connector being coupled to a cable (150, 151, 152, 153, 250, 251, 252, 253, 360, 361, 362, 363, 370, 371, 372, 373) which carries a plurality of lines (155, 156, 255, 256, 257, 375, 376), and wherein the total number of lines in the cable is equal to the number of network levels, thus facilitating a reduction in the number of cables coupled to the network
chassis.