Routing nodes (34) that are interconnected (36) within a communications network (30) are not configured to utilize a single type of switching technology in the context of a single type of networking topology. Responsive to data input and the operation of an expert system (50), the routing nodes are configured to implement a certain switching technology type (74) and networking technology type (72), and thus optimize portions of the communications network to handle different types of traffic (70). Traffic of the various different types may then be efficiently handled through the network by its correspondingly optimized portion.