A system according to one embodiment includes a collection of computing nodes arranged in a mesh of N×M×Z topology, the nodes including computational hardware, wherein Z<N and Z<M, and wherein N and M are at least equal to 4; a collection of I/O connections interfaced with one of the sides of the mesh, said side having N×M nodes, each of the I/O connections being tied to a unique one of the nodes in said side; and I/O cards that are tied to the I/O connections.