<s>
In	O
computer	B-Architecture
networking	I-Architecture
,	O
east-west	B-General_Concept
traffic	I-General_Concept
is	O
network	O
traffic	O
among	O
devices	O
within	O
a	O
specific	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
other	O
direction	O
of	O
traffic	O
flow	O
is	O
north-south	B-General_Concept
traffic	I-General_Concept
,	O
data	O
flowing	O
from	O
or	O
to	O
a	O
system	O
physically	O
residing	O
outside	O
the	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
,	O
private	O
cloud	O
,	O
converged	O
,	O
and	O
hyper-converged	B-Architecture
infrastructure	I-Architecture
adoption	O
,	O
east-west	B-General_Concept
traffic	I-General_Concept
volumes	O
have	O
increased	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
these	O
components	O
relay	O
data	O
to	O
each	O
other	O
,	O
they	O
increase	O
traffic	O
on	O
the	O
network	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
increase	O
latency	B-Protocol
and	O
cause	O
network	B-Protocol
congestion	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
disaggregated	O
compute	O
and	O
storage	O
becomes	O
popular	O
,	O
east-west	B-General_Concept
traffic	I-General_Concept
volumes	O
will	O
increase	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditionally	O
,	O
many	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
today	O
deploy	O
their	O
systems	O
using	O
a	O
fat-tree	B-Protocol
or	O
CLOS	O
topology	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
network	B-Architecture
topology	I-Architecture
,	O
servers	O
and	O
appliances	O
that	O
host	O
applications	O
are	O
deployed	O
within	O
the	O
racks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
a	O
top	O
of	O
the	O
rack	O
(	O
ToR	O
)	O
switch	O
(	O
a	O
leaf	B-General_Concept
switch	I-General_Concept
)	O
that	O
connects	O
the	O
systems	O
within	O
the	O
rack	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
to	O
other	O
spine	B-General_Concept
switches	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
spine	B-General_Concept
switches	I-General_Concept
connect	O
ToRs	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
provide	O
connectivity	O
to	O
other	O
spine	B-General_Concept
switches	I-General_Concept
through	O
another	O
layer	O
of	O
switch	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Applications	O
communicate	O
with	O
other	O
applications	O
running	O
on	O
other	O
systems	O
for	O
typical	O
services	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
accessing	O
an	O
asset	O
stored	O
in	O
another	O
device	O
,	O
gathering	O
results	O
from	O
a	O
micro-service	O
task(s )	O
executed	O
on	O
other	O
systems	O
,	O
or	O
simply	O
getting	O
a	O
status	O
update	O
from	O
management	B-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
