Data Centers have experienced substantial growth, commonly hosting tens of thousands or more end points in a single network. The unique characteristics of data center networks driven by their topologies (both traditional and emerging), traffic patterns, requirements for rapid restoration, and a need for minimal human intervention, necessitates specialized routing solutions. The adoption of Clos and Fat-Tree topologies has become prevalent in data center networks, particularly in centralized architectures designed to deliver computation and storage services efficiently.

The Routing in Fat Trees (RIFT) protocol has been developed to meet the specific routing needs of Clos and Fat-Tree networks. RIFT employs a hybrid approach, combining elements of both link-state and distance-vector routing techniques, which can be colloquially described as 'link-state towards the spine and distance vector towards the leaves'. This approach is optimized for networks characterized by regular topologies with a high degree of connectivity, defined directionality, and large scale.

The RIFT Working Group has completed the base protocol specification. Building upon this foundation, the Working Group will continue to develop standards-track specifications in the following areas:

 - Key-Value Data Store: Development of a key-value data store to enhance RIFT protocol functionality.
 - Policy Guided Prefix: Specification of mechanisms to enable policy-guided prefix distribution.
 - MPLS: RIFT extensions to support the MPLS data plane.
 - Segment Routing: RIFT extensions to support Segment Routing, enhancing routing flexibility and scalability.
 - Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) integration: Leveraging RIFT ZTP procedures as a management plane to carry attributes that enable the provisioning and instantiation of other protocols, including:
    - EVPN: Distribution of Ethernet VPN (EVPN) attributes, such as Virtual Network Identifiers (VNIs), Route Targets (RTs), and Route Distinguishers (RDs), as defined in RFC7342.
    - IS-IS: Distribution of Flood Reflection attributes, such as Flood Reflection Cluster IDs, and related IS-IS attributes, as defined in RFC9377.
 - Multicast: Extensions to RIFT to support the construction of multicast trees within the network.
 - Leaf Ring Topologies: Extensions to RIFT to facilitate the creation and management of leaf ring topologies.
 - Dragonfly Topologies: Extensions to RIFT to support the construction of Top-of-Fabric (ToF) ring topologies.

The goal of the RIFT Working Group is to ensure that the RIFT protocol evolves in a manner that meets the current and future needs of large-scale, highly connected data center networks, with a focus on efficiency and scalability. 

The RIFT Working Group will cooperate with other Working Groups as necessary. Key interactions include (but are not limited to):

* SPRING WG: Close cooperation on RIFT protocol extensions, new requirements, and operational considerations.
* BESS WG: Cooperation on RIFT-based protocol extensions for BGP-enabled services, new service transport requirements, and functional considerations.
* LSR WG: Cooperation on RIFT-based LSR extensions, new RIFT-based attributes and encodings, and functional considerations.
* PIM WG: Cooperation on RIFT-based PIM extensions, new RIFT-based attributes and encodings, and functional considerations.
* BIER WG: Cooperation on RIFT-based BIER protocol extensions, new RIFT-based attributes and encodings, and functional considerations.

The chairs will ensure that Working Group Last Call (WGLC) and Adoption notices are cross posted to the relevant WGs.