A network (100) for a data center is disclosed. The network comprises computing resources (120), storage resources (110), and a switching apparatus (130). The switching apparatus (130) comprises a plurality of electrical switching components (140) configured to provide packet switching for traffic between computing resources or between computing and storage resources, and an optical switching fabric (150) configured to select an electrical switching component to provide packet switching between computing resources (120) and to provide connectivity between the plurality of electrical switching components (140) and the computing and storage resources (120, 110). Also disclosed is a method (400) for configuring a Virtual Performance Optimised Data Center (vPOD) in a network. The method comprises assigning computing resources of the network to the vPOD (410), assigning storage resources of the network to the vPOD (420) and assigning at least one of a plurality of electrical switching components of the network to provide packet switching for traffic between the computing resources of the vPOD or between the computing and storage resources of the vPOD (430). The method further comprises interconnecting the assigned computing and storage resources and the assigned at least one of a plurality of electrical switching components using an optical switching fabric (440).