In certain embodiments, minimizing interconnections in a multi-shelf switching system includes receiving a map describing the switching system, where the switching system comprises shelves and input/output (I/O) points. The map is transformed to yield a graph comprising nodes and edges. A node represents an I/O point, and a node weight represents a number of interface cards of the I/O point represented by the node. An edge between a node pair represents traffic demand between the I/O points represented by the node pair, and an edge weight represents the amount of the traffic demand represented by the edge. The graph is partitioned to yield a groups that minimize interconnection traffic among the shelves, where each group represents a shelf of the multi-shelf switching system.