With the explosive data growth, an enormous number of computing and networking components (e.g., servers, switches, and wires) are continuously being augmented to data centers. Data center networks (DCNs) - maintaining a high network capacity - must be cost efficient, incrementally scalable, and fault-tolerant. To address these challenges, we propose in this study a new type of DCN architecture referred to as <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> . Different from the existing network architectures, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> is designed hierarchically and recursively by employing two ports servers and commodity switches. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> is constructed based on numerous isomorphic <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pod</i> s, each of which leverages external interfaces supplied by switches to connect with neighboring pods. Additionally, a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pod</i> -based and fault-tolerant routing algorithm is designed to handle multiple failures. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> has an array of promising features, including being cost-efficient and delivering a high-network capacity that can be extended to millions of nodes. The analytic results demonstrate that <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> is significantly superior to the four state-of-the-art data center structures in terms of network capacity, scalability, cost, power consumption, and other static characteristics. Furthermore, the experimental results unveil that <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> satisfies the fault-tolerant demands of modern data centers. Compared to the four existing topologies (i.e., <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DCell</i> , <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">BCube</i> , <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">FiConn</i> , <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Fat-Tree</i> ) that have been widely investigated, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Criso</i> is adroit at maintaining a balanced performance in terms of throughput and latency.